The People Can Defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership

[JohnyCanuck]

By Kevin Zeese & Margaret Flowers

14 November, 2013
Countercurrents.org

Time to end the failed experiment with rigged corporate trade and put in place fair trade for the people and planet before profits


Momentum is growing in the campaign to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Yesterday, the TPP was dealt two blows. Each could be lethal but the TPP, and its Atlantic counterpart, called TAFTA, are not dead yet. It is time for the movement of movements that formed to oppose the TPP to stand in solidarity, defeat these agreements and end the era of rigged corporate trade.

Yesterday's first blow came from Wikileaks, showing once again that when government works in secret with big corporations, exposure by whistle blowers is critical to changing the corrupt direction of government and the economy. Wikileaks published the full text of the intellectual property chapter; the leaked document included the positions of all the parties. It will take time for all the corporate rigging in this lengthy document to be understood, but already it is evident that Internet freedom will be curtailed, access to healthcare will become more expensive and access to information will be undermined.

This is not the first leak of TPP text. Previous leaks are consistent with the Wikileaks leak – enhanced corporate power that puts profits before the needs of the people and the protection of the planet. The Wikileaks release shows that the United States is by far the most aggressive advocate for trans-national corporate interests, often isolated in pushing for harmful policies.

The second blow came from members of the U.S. House of Representatives. In recent days, several letters were sent to President Obama opposing Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority. Fast Track undermines Congress' responsibility under the Commerce Clause to regulate trade between nations by allowing the president to sign the agreement before Congress even sees it. The letters made public on November 13th demonstrate broad bi-partisan opposition to Fast Track with 179 Members signing at least one of the three letters.

http://www.countercurrents.org/zeese141113.htm

[99Forever]

1. K&R

[B Calm]

2. I'm all for fair trade. We need tariffs to protect

our jobs!

[cali]

3. and very little of this is about trade- only about 20%

[CoffeeCat]

5. Yep, that's when you know they're crafting their sick world via legislation...

When they hide unrelated, horrifying legislation, inside big pieces of legislation--like the TPP, that's when you know they're at it again.

A few more steps, downward, for the American people.

They think we won't notice.

The TPP is awful enough--it would allow other countries to punish the US for ANY environmental regulations and any employee safety and wage laws. Our current health/safety standards for employees would violate this the TPP. The TPP specifies that any nation involved in this trade agreement, that has environmental or workers standards that are too stringent for the other participating countries to attain--would be in violation.

This would strip the US of all of its environmental standards. Our workers would be expected to tolerate conditions that workers in Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei tolerate.

This trade agreement would have a downward pressure on these important laws. This entire trade agreement is a cloak-and-dagger scheme to gut our environmental laws and reduce worker conditions and wages down to peasant conditions.

[cali]

6. The TPP is worse than legislation- and virtually impossible to undo

should it pass.

But I agree with the rest of your post. They're pushing it as upgrading environmental standards and that is a flat out lie.

[Laelth]

9. +1. It's a treaty.

That makes it stronger than laws passed by Congress and right below our Constitution in terms of its legal strength.

The proposed treaty's Courts are what worry me the most. They represent an unprecedented assault on national and state sovereignty.

-Laelth

[merrily]

10. A good reason to try to work through our state reps and Governors.

[CoffeeCat]

4. The TPP further erodes the United States as a Superpower...

The initial documents that I read force participating nations to have very little environmental regulations and employee wage/safety standards. Any nation that has stringent laws in these areas would be violating the agreement and that nation could be subject to punishment.

I mean, seriously. How is that Constitutional? And some of the countries in the TPP (Vietnam, Malaysia, etc) have no environmental standards or laws that keep employees safe or paid a decent wage. The United States would be punished and we would be forced to comply our environmental and employee standards down to that of countries that abuse their workers by paying them 50 cents a day.

Come on!

We're global now, people. In a global world, run by psychopaths who only exist for greed--you can't have a country that pays workers fair wages, gives them healthcare and has an empowered, healthy population. That country and its people would only cause people in other countries (who are getting paid 50 cents an hour) to revolt. They have to move all of the world's workers down to the lowest common denominator.

The US is like a chicken that is being plucked. But don't worry, the elites and leaders of this country will have their nests feathered just fine. They may be Americans, but they first and foremost have a globalist mentality. Their corporations and their portfolios stand to profit more on a global scale. Their loyalties are to their money and their power--not a nation.

[whathehell]

7. It destroys our sovereignty and that the other nations involved -- THAT, in my opinion, is it's

worst aspect.....I don't much care about being a 'superpower', but I DO care that we remain

a democratic republic. I don't want our nation or ANY other to be turned into oligarchies,

ruled by Multi-National Corporations...This is as close to a fascist takeover that I believe most

of us have faced in our lifetimes.

[cali]

8. I'd argue that we already are a oligarchy.

The TPP would enhance that.

[merrily]

11. I agree with Citicorp. It's a plutonomy.

We've gone past plutocracy and are a plutonomy.

http://politicalgates.blogspot.com/2011/12/citigroup-plutonomy-memos-two-bombshell.html

But, oligarchy is close enough that I can go with that, too.

Eventually, we'll probably have a world government of some kind with most of us as serfs.

[zeemike]

13. And make it permanent.

K&R for all to see.

[whathehell]

14. Okay...Citizens United had a lot to do with that, but we don't want to make it

even worse, and perhaps permanent with this monstrous deal.

[cali]

15. CU- another example of Corporate muscle

[whathehell]

16. Yes indeed. n/t

[skepticscott]

12. If at some point we had a government with a spine

What the fuck could they do to punish us? If a president and Congress had the balls to say to the secret "court", "Yes, we're going to ignore this agreement and do what's in OUR best interest…this fucking treaty is just ink on a page. What are you going to do about it?", we'd be fine.