What benefit is there for Guam, Puerto Rico, etc to being a US Territory rather than a state or an independent country?
In: Economics
They are owned and managed by the US. Which means they can potentially benefit from all of the resources US has to offer. While this is not guaranteed, it is a far sight better than being on your own and receiving no benefit.
Important to note is that those “resources” include the United States Military to protect it from foreign powers.
Since the US operates on the principle of Federalism, if there is a local government, they have a pretty broad latitude when it comes to self-governance.
If they are independent, they get unfettered self-governance, but are on their own in terms of all those resources and military protection.
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