ABSTRACT
The people of Micronesia rely on American tax dollars for most of their employment and income. Islanders also depend on American expenditures for public capital improvements and on the world market for most consumer durables and for a large and increasing proportion of their food supply. The American fishing industry, along with that of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, exploits the one natural resource that the islands have in plenty. American aid to some of its own territories can be interpreted in similar terms. An example is Puerto Rico, an American possession since 1898 and a Commonwealth since 1952. Political pressure from the United Nations and the desire of the American government to maintain military rights over selected islands for the indefinite future resulted in the large subsidization of the trust territory in the 1960s and 1970s.
