Fiorina: U.S. jobs no birthright 4509

Quite true. You imported your slave labour to America and exploited it there, while the colonial powers exported themselves to where the labour and resources were. You seem to be implying some sort of moral superiority over the colonialists, when in fact the motives driving the exploitation of human labour in all those cases were not dissimilar.

And now that it's really off topic - for which I apologise as I guess I started it - let me add that the only reason the US was not a colonial power was that it arrived on that scene too late. Along with the Europeans they did their best to be part of the carving up of China with the 'Open Door' policy of the early twentieth century - which didn't quite come off, though it did shatter China's economy till 1949. You also blew the Spanish fleet out of the water round the turn of the twentieth century in order to gain control of a colonial possession - the Philippines.

You actually were not a colonial power only because the cake had already been cut up - but it's OK - you sure gained global economic control in the second half!

Rifty -- Academic and Computing Help