Advantages for the Philippines:
•Less corruption. The USA certainly has its own corruption (which some of us believe will improve in the near future), but the corruption in the Philippines is worse. It’s just that, not being as powerful as the United States, the Republic of the Philippines does not project the results of its corruption across the whole world in the way that the USA does. Anyway, the USA could, in fact, help to crack down on corruption in the Philippines.
•Protection against China. China has been very belligerent in the South China Sea. There is a high level of anxiety there. Filipinos already enjoy a high level of support from the United States in that area, but they would enjoy more.
•Investment. Business interests in the USA would most definitely invest more heavily in the Philippines, causing considerable economic growth. And now, they will have to be subject to the same federal laws that they are subject to in the rest of the USA.
Advantages for the USA:
•Global influence. There are over 100 million people in the Philippines. This would be no small annexation. And it would give us a solid presence in East Asia.
•Cheap labor. The USA would have easy access to the cheap labor markets in the Philippines. And many of them even speak English very well. This could be pretty important considering the fact that labor costs in China are rising.
•Natural resources. The economic problems of the Philippines - caused largely by corruption - have left that country’s natural resources considerably untapped. The USA’s corporations could quickly develop these natural resources.
Disadvantages for the Philippines:
•Loss of autonomy. It wouldn’t be like before: they would certainly have representation in Congress. But they would no longer be autonomous, which many Filipino nationalists may become quite angry about.
Disadvantages for the USA:
•China. The Chinese are NOT going to be happy about the USA suddenly setting up shop on their doorstep. This could possibly lead to conflict between two of the world’s most powerful nations.
•Our name. Yes, we have some small non-American territories like Guam and American Samoa. (Wait, I guess it is American because we’ve called it “American Samoa”...) But we could not conceivably continue calling ourselves the United States of America when about 24% of our population lives in Asia. Maybe we could call ourselves the “United States of America and the Pacific”. Hmm...
•Social programs. Following the annexation, there would be an immediate call for significant federal social programs to alleviate the extreme poverty in the Philippines. This would be expensive.
•Migration. Upon becoming U.S. citizens, many Filipinos would immediately flock to America and become part of the labor market there, resulting in significant economic changes.
Ours is certainly a country with a history of annexation. Texas, California, Hawaii, Alaska, etc. If a significant majority of people in the Philippines (as in at least 60%) were to say that they wanted to be annexed, I would certainly consider it. But I don’t think it will ever happen.
All good points. We would have to extend social programs there and that would be very expensive. Their labor might be cheap now, but I’m sure it wouldn’t take long before they demand higher wages. Remember when we legislated higher minimum wage in American Samoa and Mariana islands? It just about ruined their economies and tuna business.