The TPP Is Screwing You Over

[cali]

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — even just the name sounds moderate and welcoming.

Under this international trade agreement that the Obama administration hopes to sign by the end of the year, the U.S. will be able to reach across borders to partner with our friends in Asia, Australia, and Latin America. According to the New York Times, the TPP will "lower duties and trade barriers on most products and services, strengthen labor and environmental protections, limit the ability of governments to tilt the playing field in favor of state-owned firms and balance the interests of consumers and creators of intellectual property. Such a deal will not only help individual countries but set an example for global trade talks."

Wow. That sounds pretty great. We can lower "barriers" (bad obstacles to trade) and increase "protections" (good obstacles to trade). And look at all of that balance! We'll balance government interests, private interests, and the desires of consumers with the needs of producers. This agreement certainly sounds reasonable and moderate.

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If you want to see how corporations and government work together to screw their citizenry, this is how they do it — with talk of balance, moderation, and partnership. Only the American citizen is not one of the partners.

Despite the language to the contrary, the TPP deals far less with free trade and far more with protecting favored industries and extending this cronyism around the world. Only five of the 11 Pacific-rim nations participating in the TPP talks do not already have a free trade agreement with the U.S. and only five of the 29 chapters in the agreement actually deals with trade.

The other 24 chapters are a collection of cronyism and protectionism meant specifically to protect special interests.

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http://www.policymic.com/articles/74033/the-tpp-is-screwing-you-over

[djean111]

1. I believe that some of the defense of the TPP is going to center around

"protecting stockholder interest". Evidently it is okay to inflict economic harm on anybody and everybody in order to make profits for Wall Street. And this always seems to be used as an excuse, as if the stockholders were all of America, not just a small percentage. The bottom line is profits for a few at the expense of the many. Unregulated Capitalism's inevitable result.

[Wilms]

2. ^