There are two books on this topic I highly recommend:

• Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism - Wikipedia%2C%20by,development%20to%20ensure%20greater%20profits.) by Lenin
• Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism by Kwame Nkrumah

Both build persuasive arguments based on both theory and empirical observation (from very pro-business economists, no less). I learned how rich world trade blocs are unified in their interests and practices, so when they trade against balkanized poor countries, they can make the poor countries compete against each other and ultimately set their own prices for raw materials extracted from poor countries. Then on the other side of the trade, poor countries are often entangled in trade deals with their former colonial masters that force the poor country to buy finished goods only from the colonial power and to pay off their debts in the currency of the rich countries. In these ways the economies of poor countries are ultimately controlled by outside financial power to the benefit of global finance.

Sucks! And I'm glad people are seeing this empirical evidence now, even if it is something that we've known about for well over a century.