Parenti and Imperialism

Chris Johnson
After reading Perenti’s views on imperialism and its relation to our capitalistic society I was a little disturbed by some of the things I read. I was well aware of United States’ practices of outsourcing and taking advantage of cheap labor and other natural resources, but, like many others I’m sure, I was under the impression that they did more good than bad. For corporations everywhere, maximizing profits and minimizing expenses are two of the main ingredients to success. This often means finding cheaper forms of labor and outsourcing some factors of production, and I think this is good because it keeps prices down for the consumer. However, I believe the line should be drawn when other people and countries are being harmed. The fact is that the US is an extremely powerful country, and they use that power to get what they want at any cost. Often this idea is covered up as the “development theory” where a 1st world country enters a 3rd world country and is believed to be helping it become more productive and climb out of poverty, but this is not the reality of the situation. They are actually exploiting these underdeveloped countries and just make the economic conditions worse. The only thing that is accomplished is the further enrichment of 1st world countries like the US. I firmly believe this type of behavior is wrong, even If I save a few bucks when I go shopping. Also I believe that if people really knew what went on they would feel the same way. A perfect example of this can be seen in the Jamaican Free Zone video we watched in class. In basically a modern form of slavery, companies like Brooks Brothers and Tommy Hilfiger exploited the labor of Jamaican citizens. They worked making products that sell for extremely high prices in other countries, but got paid little to nothing. This is inexcusable and I think something needs to be done to stop this sort of behavior