Islands in the Wind

England's former east Caribbean islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands have evolved as constitutional democracies with a mix of open market capitalism and socialist government oversight to shield their people from runaway private enterprise. These are unique achievements for small states fighting for survival in a world of mega power politics. They have against many odds tenaciously clung to their independence, have been able to hold their own in the international corridors of power and have even been successful in growing their economies. The problem is that in the approximately half century since these states have become self-governing, they have been unable to close their income gaps with their more industrialized trading and investment partners in North America, Europe and Asia. Why this income gap continues to exist and how it is being addressed are the issues addressed in this book. This book argues that this existing income inequality in the islands is a consequence of the unequal footing they suffered during the colonial era and is being prolonged by current economic policies and programs encouraged by their own governments in conjunction with those of their major trading partners.