Old time colonialism has been replaced by capitalistic corporate empires

BY STEVEN KASZAB

Why is the Caribbean one of the most indebted regions on the planet? Why are most Caribbean nations cash poor while they are all invaded each year by tourists, businesses and banking institutions?

Money comes in and flows out of the region. Most investments by tourists go offshore and away from the domestic economies that it temporarily supports while on the islands. Most head offices of corporations are located elsewhere, as are their financial arms. Caribbean governments both national and local stay cash poor while being responsible for all the repairs and maintenance required upon the islands caused by the weather, natural disasters, common wear and tear of any economy. Large corporations harvest what they need, make the profits mandated, and then the profits are sent abroad, not invested in the islands. Sounds a lot like what has historically happened when the Caribbean was a center of colonial ambition.

Various colonial powers used and abused the landscape, generations of the Caribbean population, harvesting cash crops, minerals, fish and whatever they could get their hands on, and then the products and profits flowed to the homelands of: Europe and Great Britain, as to America. The very same thing is happening today, but the players have somewhat changed. The European empires have been replaced by their huge corporate entities and American and Chinese investment concerns. The profits generated also flow away from the source of these profits, the Caribbean islands.

Old time colonialism has been replaced by capitalistic corporate empires. The poverty, lack of housing and proper population supporting infrastructure remains centered upon the tourist and wealthy sectors, not upon the citizens of the Caribbean. Low incomes, lacking in future prospects drive the young from the islands, leaving a growing surplus population of geriatric citizens with no one to care for them. Costs rise, making the cost of living for the island’s population unbearable at times. The islands have become smallish fiefdom for large unregulated corporate entities answerable only to offshore corporate head offices, and not the local host governments.

The new colonialism will evade these islands once their books show red. Climate change has made doing business in the Caribbean far more costly than previously experienced. Will the corporate elites invest in the Caribbean when the proverbially expected demands for revenue come from the various governments to rebuild once again?

Like the old-time colonialism, the corporate world will not run off unless it is forced to leave the islands. Massive costs of doing business, governmental financial demands may seal the fate of the Caribbean. Will the Caribbean remain a mere tourists paradise, or will it unite and become a future economic dynamo among nations? Your guess is as good as mine. Put it to a vote and see if the people of the Caribbean have the courage to decide their region’s destiny?