Congress, Public Waking Up To Trans-Pacific Partnership Threat

[Catherina]

Congress, Public Waking Up To Trans-Pacific Partnership Threat

Members of Congress are starting to pay attention to the upcoming, secretly negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “trade” agreement that isn’t really about trade. And the public is also becoming aware that this runaway job-loss express train is coming straight at us.

Not Really A “Trade” Treaty

The TPP agreement is being negotiated — in secret, even from Congress — between representatives of governments and giant, multinational corporations. (Government negotiators are not prevented from seeking lucrative corporate jobs if negotiations are completed in favor of the those corporations.) Groups representing the interests of labor, environmental, consumer, human rights or other stakeholders in democracy are not at the negotiating table. And, not surprisingly, it appears that the agreement will promote the interests of giant, multinational corporations over the interests of labor, environmental, consumer, human rights or other stakeholders in democracy.

Negotiated in secret, what we know about the treaty comes from leaks. Only a few of the “chapters” of the agreement are actually about “trade” at all. The rest are about the “rights” of corporations and investors. Negotiated just as the worldwide democracy uprising threatens to reign in corporate interests, the agreement will limit governments’ ability to write banking regulations, energy policy, food safety standards and even government purchasing decisions. It will allow corporations and investors to sue governments for lost profits if the governments try to make and enforce environmental, labor and other laws.

Congress Waking Up

The corporations are asking Congress to pass “Fast Track” Trade Promotion Authority. This would mean Congress yields its authority and duties under the Constitution, and just has a rushed up-or-down vote on whatever is presented to them. So this will be about which legislators the giant corporations own, and which they do not. (Of course this vote will occur during a major corporate-funded PR campaign that will rival the propaganda “run-up” to the Iraq war vote.)

Some members of Congress are circulating letters opposing “Fast Track” Trade Promotion Authority and are getting plenty of signatures from the “left” and the “right.”



...

http://www.nationofchange.org/congress-public-waking-trans-pacific-partnership-threat-1377322701

[Jackpine Radical]

1. God bless 'em, every one.

TPP is more worrisome than any single outrage such as Keystone XL, simply because it is essentially a permit to commit outrages.

"Some members of Congress are circulating letters opposing “Fast Track” Trade Promotion Authority and are getting plenty of signatures from the “left” and the “right.” "

[NYC_SKP]

2. Recommended.

[Elwood P Dowd]

3. K&R (nm)

[bvar22]

4. DURec for wider exposure.

This must be stopped.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. K&R!

[Segami]

6. Big K&R!

[tblue]

7. Kick! Is there a video on this?

Just asking because if I send an article to my friends and family they may not read much of it, but if I send a video, they'll probably watch it if it's not too long.

[Catherina]

23. I hope this one works, it's from Democracy Now

Published on Jun 6, 2013

http://www.democracynow.org - The Obama administration is facing increasing scrutiny for the extreme secrecy surrounding negotiations around a sweeping new trade deal that could rewrite the nation's laws on everything from healthcare and internet freedom, to food safety and the financial markets. The latest negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were recently held behind closed doors in Lima, Peru, but the Obama administration has rejected calls to release the current text. Even members of Congress have complained about being shut out of the negotiation process. Last year, a leaked chapter from the draft agreement outlined how the TPP would allow foreign corporations operating in the United States to appeal key regulations to an international tribunal. The body would have the power to override U.S. law and issue penalties for failure to comply with its rulings. We discuss the TPP with two guests: Celeste Drake, a trade policy specialist with the AFL-CIO; and Jim Shultz, executive director of the Democracy Center, which has just released a new report on how corporations use trade rules to seize resources and undermine democracy. "What is the biggest threat to the ability of corporations to go into a country and suck out the natural resources without any regard for the environment or labor standards? The threat is democracy," Shultz says. "The threat is that citizens will be annoying and get in the way and demand that their governments take action. So what corporations need is to become more powerful than sovereign states. And the way they become more powerful is by tangling sovereign states in a web of these trade agreements."

Here's the link to the video on Democracy Now + transcript: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/6/6/obama_backed_trans_pacific_partnership_expands

And here's Chomsky talking about it. The Chomsky video is much shorter, about 5 minutes.

I hope this helps. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll look for something else. I'll keep an eye out for you.

[Catherina]

27. See posts 13 and 25 too n/t

[another_liberal]

8. To hell with TPP!

It is designed to help only the already filthy rich. It will hasten the destruction of our planet, and erode our peoples' freedoms.

[OhioChick]

9. K&R n/t

[cali]

10. k&r. I think it'll really heat up this fall

[Catherina]

25. With your help! Tom Hartmann: "From a post by Cali over at Democratic Underground"

Here's Thom Hartmann mentioning your thread "Secret TPP Deal Would Void Democracy"! It's at minute 1:00 Great job!

[sabrina 1]

34. Excellent, good for Cali! And DU!

[G_j]

11. K&R

[antigop]

12. and who played a leading part in drafting the TPP? Hillary Clinton.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=67554

[Ocelot]

15. Bill Clinton says he now regrets NAFTA

Et tu, Hillary? K&R

[sabrina 1]

35. I would like to have leaders who don't have to 'admit to being wrong' AFTER it's too late.

Those who have such bad judgement as to, eg, vote for the Invasion of Iraq when ordinary people knew they were lying, at a cost in lives and money that is incalculable do not deserve another chance imo. It's way too risky to 'trust' such people with the lives of Americans. If you screw up on something like Welfare Reform, NAFTA, War, maybe you just return to private life and leave these important decisions to those who get it right the first time.

[joshcryer]

52. She changed her tune on it.

Here's a good overview: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/feb/25/barack-obama/clinton-has-changed-on-nafta/

Krugman still hasn't come out against NAFTA (though for him it wasn't economics but foreign policy, and he thinks it was the OK).

[CaliforniaPeggy]

26. Her role in this is playing a LARGE role in my opposition to her being President. LARGE. n/t

[antigop]

29. well, some of us aren't surprised...those of us on DU who have posted about her support for

h-1b visa increases and her touting of the "advantages" of outsourcing.

We are not surprised... AT ALL.

eta: Hillary threw us under the bus a long time ago.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

30. She lost my votes when I found out about her being on the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart.

Hillary Clinton was on the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart for 6 years. Wal-Mart paid her $18,000 each year she was on the board and $1,500 for every meeting she attended. She accumulated at least $100,000 in Wal-Mart stock. This might be the reason she refuses to release her tax records even though Barack Obama has done so. Maybe it's time we demand that she give back this blood money? Moreover, when Hillary Clinton was with the Rose Law firm in Little Rock she defended Wal-Mart against workers who tried to organize unions making the firm, in the words of labor leader Jonathan Tasini, "one of the most active anti-union law firms in the country."

Clinton's shameless posturing about the Michigan and Florida Democratic delegations is just more of the same from this Wal-Mart-loving corporate shill. She pretends to be standing for "democratic" principles while she attempts a legal trick to strip the nomination from Obama..... -more-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/hillary-clinton-and-walma_b_93638.html

[summer-hazz]

54. This and more

are the reasons she does not need to be the candidate for the left,
she is to far the the right for me..



We are loosing our party...

[KoKo]

61. That and more..plus

the chilling..."We Came..We Saw...He Died" with a cackling laugh.

[fascisthunter]

36. yeah, it looks like she won't get my vote

if she runs.

[winter is coming]

42. Well, that answers the "holding my nose" question for me. n/t

[antigop]

13. great video featuring Lori Wallach

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017140443

[SHRED]

14. Corporations have no national loyalty

They go to where they can exploit the most...country patriotism be damned.

[steve2470]

16. k&r nt

[caseymoz]

17. K&R

[mick063]

18. Front Page Material

Secrecy is destroying faith in government.

Transparency is a myth.


Folks that complain about conspiracy theory just don't get it. The environment is ripe for conspiracy theory. Secrecy in government is the incubator. Secrecy is the problem. Not conspiracy theory.

[AzDar]

19. K & R

[xchrom]

20. du rec.

[City Lights]

21. I hope a stake is driven through the heart of TPP.

[Phlem]

22. K&R!

Wonder how the other half of DU is going to spin this.

-p

[LWolf]

24. Are they waking up in time?

I hope so.

[avaistheone1]

28. Evidently team Obama wants fast-tracking of the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement,

by allowing “Obama to sign the agreement prior to congressional approval.

Who thinks this Congress won’t agree?

[rhett o rick]

31. Contact your Congress-Critters. nm

[struggle4progress]

32. Did anybody here submit comments for any of the multiple Federal Register

requests for comment on TPP in the last four years? Did anybody here sign up as a stakeholder for any of the events?

Direct Stakeholder Engagement
http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/trans-pacific-partnership/direct-stakholder-engagement

[mick063]

39. A working man is the stakeholder

Taxed with the task of raising a family and paying the bills.

He typically no longer pays for a team of attorneys to claim a stake for his livelihood. That went away with the deliberate political effort to neutralize collective bargaining. He depends on his elected representatives to look out for his best interest now that the voice of labor has been castrated. The elected representatives instead chose to fill campaign coffers from those that would destroy organized labor.

The system no longer works for the working man.

Let him fill with rage. I will help. I will not do it by scolding him for not participating in an obscure process not intended for him in the first place. Indeed, the details were not intended for Congress to look at either.

[struggle4progress]

45. Your rhetoric is no substitute for actually paying attention, making an effort

to get the facts right, and then attempting to work out an analysis

[mick063]

46. First rule of effective communication

Know your intended audience.

There is a reason our system of government is based upon choosing legislators. Referendums would have proven to be cumbersome in the "horse and buggy" days. Perhaps technology has reached a point where elected representatives are obsolete. Especially when they are not truly representative. Indeed, the type of participation you propose would work well with referendum based legislation.

Leaders should be chosen to not only lead, but to make decisions that benefit citizens as a whole, not for an exclusive, privileged minority.



When people get pissed enough, they will most certainly participate.

I will help.

It will not necessarily be the avenue you suggest.

[dreamnightwind]

33. Is there a way to stop this?

Seems like we have no plan, as usual.

I'd guess that stopping the effort to fast-track it would be the first step. That means convincing our congress-critters that our votes depend more on the policies they support than on the corporate-funded ad buys they can pay for by supporting the TPP.

Seems like we need to get organized and coordinate an effort to persuade members of Congress. I've pretty much given up on the administration listening to us when it goes against the wishes of monied interests. But the administration is not the only game in town. Congress still has to get re-elected, at least there's that hanging over their heads.

[fascisthunter]

38. There is no way of stopping it

these things are planned afr in advance. Corproations plan for the future, and so does our government who works solely for them.

[fascisthunter]

37. Catherina, thank you for being you.

[liberal_at_heart]

40. Good. Maybe just maybe this is not an inevitability.

[xocet]

41. Thanks for posting this. K&R n/t

[winter is coming]

43. I wish Rachel Maddow or Chris Hayes would do a story about this. n/t

[whathehell]

63. So do I, but I'm betting their corporate masters at MSNBC are not allowing it. n/t

[antigop]

44. kick nt

[Mnemosyne]

47. Thank you, Catherina. K&R nt

[AnotherMcIntosh]

48. Thank you.

[Enthusiast]

49. Who would promote such a deal?

"Groups representing the interests of labor, environmental, consumer, human rights or other stakeholders in democracy are not at the negotiating table."

Wake the fuck up, people!

[limpyhobbler]

50. Oh thank goodness people are paying attention to this.

With the NSA leaks and everything we've been so busy. This needs attention too.

[emsimon33]

51. TPP may actually fianlly be an issue that brings the country together

How Obama can be a party to this and call himself a Democrat is beyond me.

[summer-hazz]

53. We need to pay attention

to this big secret, TTP... Why is it a secret?

I didn't trust this arrangement from the first time

I heard about it...

Voters need to stand up!!!
Call them out on this....

Lets save America together, it will destroy jobs, jobs, jobs!!!



WAKE UP!!!!

[blackspade]

55. About fucking time!

[blkmusclmachine]

56. US Congress "waking up"?

If only!!!

[TBF]

57. Thanks Catherina - we all need to fight this. K&R nt

[myrna minx]

58. This is despicable. K&R

[Starry Messenger]

59. k&r

[L0oniX]

60. I don't hold out any hope about this. You can't vote Goldman Sachs out of office.

This government and corporations are becoming more and more of an enemy of the people and it looks like nothing can stop it now. The train has left the building ...on much more than this.

[snappyturtle]

62. I think we need to do two things:

1) Fight it! Put pressure on Congress and the White House....repeatedly.
Not one email or snail mail letter but many from each of us.

2) Plan ahead. Even those currently with jobs need to figure out something
a skill, craft, service something that society needs....to sell or barter with.
I am not a conspiracy theorist....I just don't like the direction of the
TPP agreement and all too aware that tptb usually get what they want.