Hightower: The Trans-Pacific Partnership is not about free trade. It's a corporate coup d'etat

[cali]

Last edited Fri Aug 16, 2013, 11:35 AM - Edit history (1)

<snip>

This thing is a supersized and nuclearized NAFTA, the 1994 trade scam rammed through Congress by Bill Clinton, Wall Street's Robert Rubin, and the entire corporate establishment. They promised that the "glories of globalization" would shower prosperity across our land. They lied. Corporations got the gold. We got the shaft -- thousands of factories closed, millions of middle-class jobs went south, and the economies of hundreds of towns and cities (including Detroit) were hollowed out. (Most Mexicans got the NAFTA shafta, too. US grain traders like ADM dumped corn into Mexico, wiping out millions of peasant farmers' livelihoods, and thousands of local businesses were crushed when Walmart invaded with its Chinese-made wares.)

<snip>

This time we really must pay attention, because TPP is not just another trade deal. First, it is massive and open-ended. It would hitch us immediately to 11 Pacific Rim nations (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam), and its door would remain wide open to lure China, Indonesia, Russia, and other nations to come in. Second, note that many of those countries already have trade agreements with the US. Hence, THIS AMAZING FACT: TPP is a "trade deal" that mostly does not deal with trade. In fact, of the 29 chapters in this document, only five cover traditional trade matters!

The other two dozen chapters amount to a devilish "partnership" for corporate protectionism. They create sweeping new "rights" and escape hatches to protect multinational corporations from accountability to our governments... and to us. Here are a few of TPP's provisos that would make our daily lives riskier, poorer, and less free:

Food safety. Any of our government's food safety regulations (on pesticide levels, bacterial contamination, fecal exposure, toxic additives, GMOs, non-edible fillers, etc.) that are stricter than "international standards," as most are, could be ruled as "illegal trade barriers." Then our government would have to revise our consumer protections to comply with the weaker global standards. Also, our government could no longer ban meat imports that don't meet our safe-to-eat laws, as long as the exporting nation simply claims that its inspection system is "equivalent" to ours. In addition, food labeling laws we rely on (organic, country-of-origin, animal-welfare approved, GMO-free, etc.) would also be subject to challenge as trade barriers

<snip>

Well, you might think, we'll still have our courts to redress corporate misuse of TPP's provisions. Uh... no. One of the deal's chapters creates a monstrous monkey wrench called the "Investor-State Dispute Resolution" system. In this private, supra-legal "court," corporations are empowered to sue TPP governments over environmental, health, consumer, zoning, or any other public policies that the corporations claim are either undermining their TPP "rights" or diminishing -- get this -- their "expected future profits."

<snip>

http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3402#

[Berlum]

1. + 1,000

No doubt the PuppetMasters will get the RepubliWankers all charged up in "support" of TPP, and they will thus blithely shoot themselves in the foot, once again SUCKERED into supporting something that is poison for them and the rest of the nation.

[pipoman]

3. It sounds like you think this is a rethug thing?

Why is the Democratic President and most higher ranking Democrats in Washington so actively supportive of this. The rethugs have always been corporate shills, their minions accept that...the dem party has historically been the labor party..the ones who should be in vehement opposition. The Dems are who will lose their party over this, not the repubs..and frankly the Dems deserve to lose their party over it..It is Dems who are "all charged up in "support" of TPP".

Can you show a single ranking Dem who has muttered a single word in opposition?

[Berlum]

9. All share the blame, but...

at the rotten core of this initiative lies RepubliThink, a sickness which does indeed infest the brainpan of many a Dem.

[bvar22]

69. You don't understand. It is the White House leading the charge FOR the TPP,

and the White House is leading the "negotiations".
The have Shut OUT all representatives for:
*Organized LABOR

*Environmental Protection

*Human Rights

*and the Media.

These "negotiations are being held in "secret",
and the White House is seeking Fast Track Authority to have this passed in Congress

*without debate

*with NO Amendments

*straight Up or Down vote.
(probably after midnight on a Friday, so those again betraying America's Working Class can sneak off and hide before the sun comes up.)


The Republican Party in NOT even involved with the TPP at this point.
This is ALL the current Democratic Party Leadership's initiative.




You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS.[/font]

[Dustlawyer]

12. The Dems get elected the same way the Repugs do, with loads of cash from corporations.

They have been the Washington Generals to the Republicans Harlem Globetrotters for the last 30-40 years! Why is it so hard to believe that Democratic politicians would be bought off just like the Republicans? Is it because they are "spineless?" Stop calling it that, call it what it is, THEY ARE BOUGHT OFF!!!
We have the U.S. Chamber of Commerce planting fake newspapers online and outside of Courthouses spewing anti Plaintiff lies to influence jurors. We have a co-opted media who ignore real stories and smother us with distracting fluff, distorting truth at every opportunity! We have corporations who write our laws and we wonder why they pay no taxes and can pollute as much as they choose. What we have is a shadow government that controls the Congress, Judicial branch, and the media. Oh yes, and this position called the POTUS!

[Civilization2]

22. I concur; the corporate-military have taken control, the will of the people no longer matters,. .

They will keep using the war-OF-terror and the worsening global-warming fallout disasters to justify taking more and more power, while militarizing the local and state police forces, for the eventual martial-law end to democracy. It is gone but in feigned lip-service anyhow,. we just see corporate-banksters getting the laws they want nowadays,. no really democracy where the actual will of the people matters.

[Dustlawyer]

67. It's so frustrating b/c you cannot even get most of the members of DU to understand and

believe! They keep looking the other way when their team (Obama and the other Dems) does something for the 1%! They make excuses, get defensive over Obama... and refuse to believe campaign money has no affect on Zdemocratic politicians.

[Civilization2]

74. Yes there are way too many folks around who are mindless defenders on party lines,. sad.

Where is the critical thinking, where is the objectivity? Democracy requires constant questioning, and debate,. otherwise it is the sick joke we have now,. rather pathetic.

[cali]

75. indeed. there are way too many people who are so caught up in the

cult of personality that they throw everything else by the wayside.

[Maedhros]

84. Maybe it's pathetic, but it is understandable.

I have a close friend who really suffered during the Bush Administration. He says that his faith in America was dashed when Bush was re-elected in 2004 - he just couldn't understand how people didn't see through the guy even given the obvious nature of the Bush Administration's crimes.

With Obama, he has chosen the "eleventh dimensional chess" option of coping with the cognitive dissonant reality of having so much at stake, emotionally, in promoting the Democrats but at the same time watching the Democratic President propose some stunningly Anti-Democratic policies. It's easier to simply trust that the President is much smarter than we are, and all of these things are really secretly brilliant ways of humiliating the Republicans, than to resolve the conflicting narrative.

I don't necessarily find it pathetic, but frustrating. Believing one's self to be essentially powerless, and putting all your bets on an Administration cobbled together from former Bush appointees and Wall Street CEOs, hoping that it will somehow do something progressive in the future.

[Civilization2]

91. sadly faith in "the party" seems a lost hope, that too many cling to.,

trust, should only be given with proof through actions,. not faith in words.

[rhett o rick]

43. Democrats vs. Republicans is a distraction. This is a corporate thing. Both parties

are controlled by corporations.

[Dustlawyer]

99. So true!

[Volaris]

21. I doubt it, here's why:

This is the kind of (ACTUAL) usurpation of National Sovergnity that the right-wing loons are always bitching about in terms of the UN Black Helicopters and whatnot. The tea party gets one WHIF of what's actually going to go down with this TPP agreement, and the game will be up. And really, I could care less if they blame "Big Government Liberals for trying to ram it through in secret..", as long as this Shadowrun-enabling monstrosity is destroyed in its crib.

What's funny though is how the Corporations think if we decide that we don't like something later on, we won't be in a position to change it.

We The People: It's the Law. We can do whatever the fuck we want with it.
Corporation X: No, actually, you can't. See it says so right here.
WTP: Fuck you then, were backing out of the Partnership.
CX: Well, see you can't it says so right here.
WTP: What the fuck are you going to do if the Treasury Dept just stops writing the checks every month? Declare a Formal and Open Stare of Warfare bewteen Corporations X, Y, and Z and the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? Come and TRY, and see how that works out for you. You think you're losing out of profit margins NOW? Put Eric Prince's little Private Army to work, and see how fast they can't handle a USARMY Abrams Tank Division, and then go ahead and run the Quarterly Numbers again, you Morans.

That they think a Democracy will just be BEHOLDEN to whatever is done behind our backs and without our OVERT approval would be laughable, if it were not PROOF that these people are completly Off Their Rocker crazy lol.

[valerief]

26. Uh, the TEA party is a corporate invention. nt

[cali]

27. yes, but it doesn't really matter

and as a matter of fact, many tea party caucus members of the House oppose this.

[Jackpine Radical]

33. And Frankenstein, and

the Sorcerer's Apprentice…

Sometimes these things get out of the control of their creators.

[Volaris]

34. (Sigh)..Yeah, I know...

but the thing is that a lot of Republican voters who consider themsleves forgotten about or trampled over by Big Government in the past 30 years are actually just people who don't know who is really stepping on them. The Corporations USE that anger and mis-education to maintain a kind of faux war between Liberal and Conservative, because a unified realization of how badly they are fucking over EVERYONE would be incredibly bad for the Corps.

For me, it's like being mad at someone still living in Plato's Cave for not understanding how Sunlight works, but there's a hole drilled in the ceiling. They know now it's dark, and they are figuring out that that's bad, but they don't know that if they go outside it won't be that way amymore.

I agree the Tea Party is a corporate invention. The people who support it, are not (IMHO). They are just not smart enough to know better at this point. I say we start educating them, and in the meantime, we get every god's-honest, actual LIBERAL elected to Congress that we can.

[JDPriestly]

80. Somewhere a NSA computer is recording your every word. Watch what you say.

The essential thing is to end the NSA surveillance program and the next thing is to end some trade agreements we already have and prevent this one from every being enacted. We can have fair labor, fair trade, environmentally positive trade agreements, but not these one-sided pro-corporate laws foisted on us without our democratic input point by point.

We need to have federal referendum votes on certain things. That was technically just too difficult to implement when our Constitution was written, but technical limitations would not be an impediment any more.

The Congress is not representing us carefully enough. They make deals we citizens would never agree to.

[HooptieWagon]

92. Herein lies the answer to why the spying on US citizens....

and increased militarization of police. Once the people figure out we've been royally fucked, the PTB need the ability to clamp down on the mobs. Corporations don't want an uprising on US soil. WE are the enemy they fear, not a couple dozen terrorists living in a cave in Pakistan.

[L0oniX]

41. The Dem party moved so far right that it's what republican was and both are corporate tools.

US Democracy is just an illusion.

[bunnies]

47. Hillary Clinton had the lead part in drafting this.

Just fyi.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101667554

[JDPriestly]

81. Just say "No" to Hillary Clinton in 2016. We cannot let her be our candidate.

It would be a disaster for the middle class.

She is completely sold out to the corporations. Completely.

[bunnies]

82. I agree.

completely.

[pipoman]

2. It is shameful that the labor party has become the champion of this shit..

Dems deserve what they get by not demanding the party oppose this...it is evidenced by the silence right here on DU. Time for a Labor Party to emerge and the second it does I will be their biggest advocate. Shameful corporate greed by the President, and every Democrat who isn't actively opposing this.

[NorthCarolina]

46. What "Labor Party"?

The Dems have not been the party of labor since the inception of the DLC.

[Eleanors38]

51. The world is a corporation; we are a corporate state. nt

[WCLinolVir]

4. I love Hightower. Thanks for posting this. So important.

[cali]

6. You're so welcome. He's wonderful.

[NorthCarolina]

45. While Spot-On, the mods will likely lock it because it is from Op-Ed News.

DU mods (apparently) and Obama's shills (for sure) do not like to see links to progressive sites such as that. My posting a few days ago was locked because it linked to that site.

Here's their reasoning for the lock:

"Locking, per consensus of GD hosts."

"There was a lot of debate in the hosts' forum in regard to locking your OP due to your source, OpEdNews, which is considered by many as being an outlet for conspiracy theories. "

Locked Post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023439122

Keep up the good fight though!

[cali]

50. I didn't know that.

I'll be pretty shocked if they lock this, but I'm sure it's been alerted on

[sabrina 1]

62. Unbelievable. That should not have been locked imho.

[JDPriestly]

83. 66 recs, and how large was the clique that decided the post was "off topic"?

Are the names of the administrators of various groups posted somewhere?

There were some crazy theories in the article cited from the source, like a reference to chem trails (which a scientist can easily explain to anyone who really wants to know), but I have a lot of confidence in DUers to discern between passing remarks that are crazy in a posted article and facts and discussion that raise points deserving discussion. I have a higher opinion of DUers than that.

[cui bono]

95. omg, that is disgusting.

This site has really gone so far downhill it's not even amusing any more.

[SunSeeker]

56. Your link should be directly to his blog, since that's the source anyway.

http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3402#

[cali]

58. I don't think it's that important

but what the hey or hay or whatever.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

5. HONEST, SERIOUS QUESTION -- What are the President's stated motives for advancing the TPP?

Especially over such strong objections from his base. I'm not prepared to ascribe nefarious motives to President Obama but neither am I willing to say its some cloth-eared naiveté.

Is there some data he's seeing that we aren't?

[cali]

8. I honestly wish I could answer that.

I'm as sad and baffled by this as you are.

As the negotiations are secret and what we know came out from leaks last summer, it's difficult to know what data the President has that we don't, but it's awfully hard to see any good in this thing from what we do know.

[Eleanors38]

52. He may not see "us" as his base. Perhaps he doesn't see any base.

[pampango]

85. I believe he wants higher labor and environmental standards. If they are in the agreement,

republicans will hate it and it will never pass the House. (Although without TPA, the House could strip out the labor and environmental requirements and pass the rest.) If they are not in the final agreement, Democrats should hate it and reject it.

(One administration strategy) will be the pursuit of trade agreements that notably do not include China. The most important of these is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement among a growing list of nations bordering the Pacific. It is the Obama administration’s avowed aim to construct a TPP with standards so high — especially rules regarding behavior by state-owned enterprises — that China could never join without transforming its economic system.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/12/10/u-s-china-economic-relations-in-the-wake-of-the-u-s-election/

Obama seems to know that we cannot compete with China by lowering standards. China will always win that race. China is vulnerable to an agreement that raises standards since it cannot join unless it does the same. This is the what European countries get out of the EU. Membership brings the removal of tariff barriers but high labor and environmental standards.

...the negotiation is subject to the U.S. domestic politics. At the very beginning of the negotiation, the United States reminded other countries that the U.S. Congress would not accept a TPP without strong labor and environmental measures. Obviously, the United States aims to lower the comparative advantages of developing countries so as to create more job opportunities for itself.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/8113289.html

And China knows that the TPP is not a good deal for them. "Obviously, the United States aims to lower the comparative advantages of developing countries so as to create more job opportunities for itself."

[Octafish]

7. THIS is why I vote for the Democratic Party.

To help enrich the owners and operators of Wall Street.

for those susceptible to psyops.

[PowerToThePeople]

10. Who signs this deal? President Obama?

Have to hold his feet to the fire here...

[cali]

14. It's his deal. It's his administration and his USTR

(US Trade Rep), crafting it and pushing it, but here's how it works: First the both Houses of Congress have to pass something called the TPA (Trade Promotion Authority) also known as fast track. Only the Senate actually votes on trade agreements. If the TPA passes, the Senate can only vote Yea or Nay on the TPP as presented to them- no amendments and no filibustering per the TPA. The TPA will thankfully be quite difficult to pass in the House. Expect MAJOR arm twisting from the leaders of both parties. There's an odd coalition opposed to it, comprised of liberal dems and tea party types.

[Volaris]

28. You know why that "odd coalition" exists?

because SOME of the Tea Party types are just Republicans who were smart enough to boo Mittens when he stood on that Hay Bale and said "Corporations are People, my friends."

They are Republicans who just haven't been told in 75 years that they are ALSO LIBERALS. Lets start educating the FUCK out of them, to the detriment of the likes of Glenn Beck, Mitch McConnell, Rupert Murdoch Jamie Dimon, Eric Cantor and Rand Paul.

Because when THAT happens, that woman who "wanted her Country back."? She will get it.

[cali]

32. Can't agree with you that tea party republicans are "Also Liberals"

How so? Opposing the TPA sure doesn't make them liberals. These are anti-regulation, anti-labor people. Nothing liberal about them.

[Volaris]

39. All right, I'll concede that "Liberal" is probably an inaccurate term after I worked all night...

Perhaps, "burgeoning Anti-Corporatist" would be a more appropriate turn of phrase?

[cali]

40. I don't know. It's my impression that these guys simply want to

block, oppose and stymie Obama in any way they can. Most of them want lower corporate taxes (or none), want to do away with all or most regulations and regulatory agencies from the EPA to OSHA. Hard to see them as anti-corporate.

I like your sunny hopeful pov though.

[Volaris]

60. I guess, but then they prove just how well the Corporate propoganda masters have done their work...

by bitching about, and actually going to court over, having to pay an extra DOLLAR A YEAR to fund the County Library, (theres a thread posted in Breaking News? I think) and I have a deep-seated and unquenchable thirst for their absolute political destruction.

Some, I think, can be brought around. The others, probably not so much. If you and I split the difference, I can live with that, AND I think the ones we save will be enough to get a functional government back into DC. And THAT I will count as a win for all of us.

But yeah, there are days when they don't make saving/educating them easy, I'll admit.

[tritsofme]

89. Under TPA, trade agreements still must pass the House.

In fact, as these sorts of agreements typically involve revenue (tariffs) they must originate in the House.

But you are correct, a new TPA would prohibit amendments and guarantee a timely up-or-down vote in the Senate and House. This gives the president the authority to negotiate a firm agreement that will not be butchered by Congress. Without TPA these sorts of agreements are completely unworkable.

[pampango]

98. Without TPA, this will indeed die. The House does not trust Obama and will deny him TPA.

Heck, the republican congress would not renew TPA for Clinton even though he pushed through NAFTA. And this House distrusts, to put it mildly, Obama even more than the Gingrich congress did Clinton.

Therefore, I think it will not pass in this congress. Perhaps if the republican opposition to labor and environmental standards in the TPP that will be another nail in their electoral coffin. The AFL-CIO is "fighting hard" for "enforceable" labor standards. If they succeed, the tea-party-led House will either delete these provisions (without TPA) or reject the whole agreement. If the AFL-CIO does not succeed in this, Democrats should reject the deal.

[mick063]

11. So is there any political traction to stop this?

If so, where is it coming from?

If the TPP is enacted, what is the means to reel it back?

Can this be done unilaterally?

[cali]

15. Yes. It's in the House and it's about stopping the

TPA, also known as fast track.

[mick063]

16. There are very rare occasions where house obstructionism works in our favor

Chained CPI for one. The linked tax increase was too much for them to swallow.

Perhaps the TPP as well?

[cali]

17. right. partly obstructionism on the part of those tea party

reps who don't want to vote for anything put forth by the admin and partly liberal dems. In some article I read the author called it a Baptists and bootleggers campaign.

If you haven't, perhaps you'd consider contacting all three of your congress critters and letting them know you strongly oppose the TPP and the enabling legislation, the TPA. I believe the Electronic Frontier Foundation has a pretty good form letter, if you're interested.

[Hotler]

13. I waiting for the Obama can do no wrong crowd........

to show up and defend the president's position. Especially the part about this administration keeping details secret.

[cali]

18. Don't hold your breath

They rarely show up on TPP, TPA or TTIP threads. When they do, it's passing strange. I've had people just deny links and facts. Weird.

[Marr]

20. They'll sometimes show up to mockingly suggest that the people with

their "hair on fire" wait to see how it turns out before complaining... which is asinine. Wait until its decided and done before you say anything-- but if it turns out badly, it's because you didn't 'hold his feet to the fire'.

[90-percent]

19. Question

Does any public figure or politician exist that speaks in favor of this TPP?

What public figure is out there that believes in TPP enough to advocate for all it's benefits?

I don't know of any, but I'm in my liberal bubble and get almost all my news from DU links.

-90% Jimmy

[cali]

23. Not really, but there are plenty on both sides of the aisle

who support it and are working to pass the TPA

[Enthusiast]

24. Enacting this against the will of the American people amounts to an act of treason.

They know it would hurt us, the working class citizens, they know it would compromise the sovereignty of the nation, but they are hell bent on making it law.

We don't want more of George H W Bush's New World Order®. We don't even want the part of it we already have, that has already damaged the nation.

[cali]

25. horrible and a betrayal for sure but not literally treason

I'm actually cautiously optimistic that the TPA will not pass.

[Enthusiast]

29. No, it's literal treason.

IMO.

[cali]

31. in your opinion. Look, I'm not going to argue with you on this

but honestly, how does proclaiming that, help stop the TPA or TPP or TTIP, in any way?

[Enthusiast]

36. It just might alert the American people that they are in danger

of losing their constitutional rights of representative government due to a trade deal that gives corporations supremacy.

The American people of every political stripe now recognize that their elected representatives have sold their souls.

Say it after me, "The TPP is an act of treason!"

[cali]

38. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that actually makes people tune out

I'm not sure what the right language to use to wake people up is, but it's certainly a discussion worth having. You've made me think about it and for that I thank you.

If, in the very off chance, I come up with something pithy and compelling, I'll let you know.

[AdHocSolver]

93. Just tell them TPP will increase their taxes and make more government regulations.

Works for the Republicans and the Tea Party.

K and R.

[AzDar]

30. K & R &

[Puzzledtraveller]

35. and the blind and deaf will cheer it on

[Enthusiast]

37. They don't want to call attention to it.

It's a nearly verboten subject.

[historylovr]

42. K & R

[L0oniX]

44. US government making deals with corporations is never good for the little people.

Does anyone even think that a corporation really personally cares about people? They are by nature sociopathic from the top down.

[cali]

49. that's certainly true of the vast majority but not true of all

Would you say that about these corporations?
High Mowing Seeds is a wonderful corporation and it fights Monsanto!

http://www.highmowingseeds.com/
http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/february2011/savingthesafeseeds.php

Seventh Generation is a corporation that has shown its dedication to the environment and its employees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Generation_Inc.

And there's this:

http://www.gardeners.com/

and this:

http://americanflatbread.com/

and this:

http://www.cellarsatjasperhill.com/

OK, so these are Vermont companies and pretty small. I think that Seventh Generation has the largest profits- around $150 million a year, but there is a really interesting growing business culture in Vermont with an emphasis on social responsibility.

[L0oniX]

53. They sought to make deals with the government?

We have corporations helping to write bills ...our diplomats shilling for corporations ...our government spending its time on deals for corporations ...our house reps voting for what ever will get them more money for their campaigns and future high paying jobs

Maybe I could have worded it better by inferring that it is the large multinational corporations. I have no problem with the old school corporations who return to society a portion of their wealth, who care about their employees and environmental impact ...but they are rare to be found if you are even looking anymore. Maybe I am just not looking or expecting it anymore.

[Solly Mack]

48. K&R

[limpyhobbler]

54. It's weird how nobody ever defends this. I don't think it's very popular. nt

[Harmony Blue]

55. That is why they are trying to keep the TPP

underwraps and trying to pass it within the confines of the shadows away from the light.

[cali]

57. once the push to pass the TPA gets underway in the fall

I think we'll be seeing this whole thing come under the public spotlight. It's going to be ugly and they can't avoid it being public.

[Catherina]

59. K&R with gratitude for your work on this n/t

[Safetykitten]

61. Thank you also for your work. But the majority here don't give a shit.

[cali]

64. If that's true, I'll just have to keep working on explaining and

focusing on it. However, it does seem that a lot of people here are paying more and more attention and this thread does have a lot of recs.

Now if only people could see how awful, how unconscionable the U.S. drone policy is.

thanks.

[pa28]

63. K&R

[truebrit71]

65. Wow...this is really NOT good....

..I know that NAFTA turned out to be CRAPTA, but this looks hideous in comparison...

And what's with the eternal push to 'normalize' GMO's that sicken us? Is that part of the plan too? You know, get 'em sick with the food they have no choice but to consume ($$$$ to the growers/producers), and then pump 'em full of drugs to get 'em 'well' again($$$$ to Big Pharma)...

Very, very worrying...

[FlyByNight]

66. There's a reason why the TPP is being kept quiet...

...by the administration and money-rotted media: it's every bit as bad as it looks.

To be fair, I know the president hasn't signed this (yet) but I'll be (pleasantly) shocked if he doesn't. This "trade" "deal" is appalling and a big FU to the 99% of us.

[cali]

68. He can't sign it yet because: 1) Trade Promotion Authority

has to be renewed by the Congress. 2) If that happens then the Senate has to vote yay or nay (no other options allowed under the TPA).

this is his creation, crafted by his appointees. Of course he'll sign it if it's passed.

Fortunately there's broad opposition in the House to the TPA.

[Utopian Leftist]

70. Say what you must about Ralph Nader

He thoroughly warned us against NAFTA.

If you ever get the chance, read his essay, "GATT, NAFTA and the Subversion of the Democratic Process." It's 20 years old now but it is the same thing that is happening today, just on a smaller scale.

This horrendous TPP is like GATT (General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs) on steroids!

[cali]

72. yes he did and thanks much for the recommendation.

[HooptieWagon]

94. So did Ross Perot.

At the time, I was somewhat bemused by the Perot supporters. However, everything he said aboit NAFTA turned out to be true. Wish I would have listened closer.

[WillyT]

71. HUGE K & R !!!

[bvar22]

73. DURec!... Ross was RIGHT!

...but Bill was SMOOOOOOOTH!
He actually convinced a gullible America that competing with 3rd World Slave Labor for OUR jobs would be a Good Thing, all the while smiling and telling us that he "felt our pain".
Now THAT is smoooth.

Who is he hanging with today?
Is he still feeling our pain?




You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS.[/font]

[Phlem]

86. I always wonder what he's up to these days.

Bill on the other hand, I can't stand the term "big dog", he fucked us too. What's with all the hero worship of ...politicians ? Fucking politicians!?

I know a few teachers at my girls school that are worthy, but politicians?

keep up the great work bvar22

-p

[LongTomH]

76. You need to read Hightower's closing paragraphs:

There is also a broad, well-organized, knowledgeable, and politically experienced coalition of grassroots groups already at work to prevent this perversion of America's fundamental governing principles. Still, many pundits will tell us that it's impossible to stop them, because the public can't understand these complex deals.

Baloney. First, this one is not at all complex; it's a plain old power grab by the world's moneyed elites, and people today have no interest in giving more money and power to the world's 1-percenters. Second, populist forces now opposing TPP have won many of these brawls in the past, including:

Stopping Clinton's demand for fast track authority in 1998.

Sidetracking the Multilateral Agreement on Investment in 1998.

Derailing an expansion of the World Trade Organization in 1999 and again in 2010.

Defeating the Free Trade Area of the Americas (a 14-nation expansion of NAFTA) in 1999.

Halting such multi-nation trade deals as AFTA (Andean countries) and NAFTA-style deals with APEC (an earlier attempt at the TPP with 18 Pacific Rim Countries), SACU (Southern Africa), Malaysia, and Thailand.

My message: We can do this. We The People can protect our democratic rights from this latest threat of corporate usurpation. The only way the Powers That Be can win is to keep the public in the dark about what TPP is. So now is the time for Lowdowners to sound the alarm, spread the news about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (start by sharing this article with your social networks!), and shine the light of day on their power play before it gets to Congress.

[mrdmk]

77. K & R

[JDPriestly]

78. The TPP is the pavement on the road to Hell for most Americans.

We have to conduct a massive campaign against it. This and the surveillance nullify our Constitution.

Fascism is on the march, and it is carrying a "liberal" banner. Don't be fooled.

The TPP will be a nightmare for you and me.

[silvershadow]

79. I started a thread on this Wednesday:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101671008

[Phlem]

87. K&R!

-p

[tritsofme]

88. Obama will never get Trade Promotion Authority out of this Congress.

I feel like these negotiations are an exercise in futility.

[Egalitarian Thug]

90. I can only hope that you're right. n/t

[blkmusclmachine]

96. Savvy!

[liberal_at_heart]

97. I would say a corporate coup d'etat is an accurate description of what TPP and other

policies catering to the rich are.