TPP is not about free trade. It's a corporate coup d'etat (Hightower)

[Faryn Balyncd]

A corporatocracy


Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's superb research and activist group, Global Trade Watch, correctly calls the Trans-Pacific Partnership "a corporate coup d'etat." Indeed, nations that join must conform their laws and rules to TPP's strictures, effectively supplanting US sovereignty and cancelling our people's right to be self-governing. Worse, it creates virtually permanent corporate rule over us--there's no expiration date on the agreement, and no provision in it can be altered unless all countries agree. Thus, even if Americans voted in an election to make changes, any other TPP country could overrule us by not agreeing.


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." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This elevates thousands of private, profit-seeking entities to the legal status of sovereign nations. Under the investor-state system, a smaller version of which was included in NAFTA and other free-trade schemes, the deck is stacked for corporate interests. Cases are decided behind closed doors by three-person international tribunals of private attorneys who often have a glaring corporate bias. The same lawyers who represent corporations in these cases routinely switch over in other cases to serve as "judges." Holy revolving door!


These "tribunalists" are not accountable to any electorate, and their decisions are final--there's no appeal to a real court. If a corporation wins a case, taxpayers of the government being sued lose, for they must pony up cash to compensate the corporation for its "loss" of profit. . . . . . . . . . . . . At present, even before the elephantine TPP is imposed on us, corporations are demanding a total of nearly $14 billion just in cases brought under free trade arrangements that include the US. Among the current corporate giants suing governments in investor-state tribunals are (1) Philip Morris (Altria), attacking Australia's and Uruguay's cigarette labeling policies; (2) Chevron, trying to avoid its liability for the gross toxic contamination of people and nature in the Ecuadorian Amazon; (3) Eli Lilly, demanding that Canada rewrite its patent law to give its drugs extended monopoly protection; and (4) several European investment firms, assaulting Egypt's minimum wage law. . . .



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

(more, including effects on drug pricing, extension of drug patents, restrictions on rights of governmental bodies to negotiate with drug giants to get lower consumer prices, fracking, and details of how the TPP rolls back financial reforms, forces governments to compensate corporations for "loss of profits" due to financial reforms/regulations, and secures a corporate takeover of the internet... at http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3402 )

[Katashi_itto]

1. As one of the architects of TPP I just want to say to you. Thank you Hillary.

[WinkyDink]

7. I think you might want to revise your misplaced modifier!

[maddiemom]

13. Yeah, my first reaction. Gets in the way of the meaning.

[Omaha Steve]

2. Great post

K&R!

[Enthusiast]

3. Corporations just don't have enough influence. That's why we need the TPP and related trade deals.

[Faryn Balyncd]

11. Appears to be a corporate/neo-feudal blueprint for castrating those pesky (democratic) goverments

Like something that might have been schemed up in a smoke-filled back-room huddle between Ayn Rand, Ivan the Terrible, John Galt, Jay Gould, and Machiavelli.

[Enthusiast]

28. That's a pretty good description.

I want to ask them, "Where is your loyalty to the ideals of the founding fathers?"

Like this guy..............“I hope we shall… crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

[woo me with science]

31. Well put.

[blkmusclmachine]

4. TPP, by and for the 1% ONLY!

[daleanime]

5. K&R....

[dotymed]

6. Bernie Sanders

is the FDR of our age. He has PROVEN this for 30 years. He is a known quantity that we desperately need.

[appalachiablue]

46. Yes he is. That didn't occur to me until a few weeks ago, and it's so clear! Go Bernie-

[handmade34]

8. Excellent read...

thanks for posting...

http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/trade-policies/tpp-potential-trade-policy-problems/

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.

http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.org/

[woo me with science]

40. Thank you for the links.

[djean111]

9. NOT looking forward to the Hillary apologists' obfuscation about this piece of corporate crap.

This will mean that anyone in the world can frack in your back yard, flout waste disposal regulations, drive up the cost of drugs.
The Investor state replaces sovereign states. Pretty, eh?
Hillary cannot backpedal away from the TPP, so my guess - double or triple down on it. Ugh.

[woo me with science]

32. +1

[joshdawg]

10. K & R!

Read this in the Hightower Lowdown.

[Hotler]

12. The TPP will be shoved down our throats. And if you think things are bad now......

just wait. I have no hope. I see no future.

[easychoice]

59. It scares me no end.

nothing good will come of it.Why is it that the Clintons like to impoverish americans?Bill and Hillary have really screwed the american public time after time.What's sad is that they still have a blind following.

[pampango]

61. Wages and family income increased under Clinton and unemployment declined.

Kind of an odd result for a president who wanted "to impoverish americans".

What's sad is that they still have a blind following.

"Blind opposition" is as bad as "blind following".

[WillyT]

14. K & R !!!

[thesquanderer]

15. The right-wingers who rail about yielding our sovereignty to the UN...

...I wonder what they think of this?

[RationalMan]

17. They will see this very differently.....

You see the UN is a global organization of countries, some democratic, some not so democratic and some downright dictatorial. But it is an organization of nation states whose charter is to provide a forum for resolving disputes between nations before they go to war and providing a process for limited, focused military action when needed to protect the innocent. As well a forum that can look globally at all aspects of existence from climate to health and beyond. But these are not corporations so they are immediately suspect.

Conservatives only believe in the power of private money. They don't acknowledge that private greed, if left unrestrained, will cause the collapse of everything. So from their perspective the TPP is perfect. It gives corporations all the power and leaves the people with nothing. They like it that way.

[zeemike]

18. They will think what they are told to think.

And right now they are told that communism is the threat, and that the TPP is all good, or not mentioned at all...
They will accept it and still believe that communism is the threat to freedom...and on the left we will be told that it is no big deal, it is just about job creation and we should support it because Obama wants it.

[Recursion]

20. TPP gets plenty of hate on conservative sites (nt)

[Ichingcarpenter]

25. I see what you did there

[Recursion]

19. Well, Freerepublic is about as anti-TPP as DU is, and WND regularly rails against it

So, yeah, it's got some opposition on the right, I'd say.

[Ichingcarpenter]

26. I see what you did there

[Recursion]

30. No. I didn't say or imply it's a reason to support TPP

Particularly since my preference is that the admin. would just walk away from it at this point.

The question was how conservatives feel about it, and I gave some examples.

[pampango]

35. I agree. republicans have no reason to give Obama 'fast track' authority. Without it they can pick

apart any TPP that is submitted to them and remove any good provisions (perhaps on environmental or labor issues) in it and leave just the pro-corporate provisions and maybe insert some new ones for good measure. Obama could veto the resulting republican version of the TPP. Even assuming the veto was not overridden what would all that have accomplished?

They don't like Obama or trust him. Why would republicans want to give him an authority that would then prevent their own republican-dominated congress from picking apart whatever Obama were to submit?

Obama would be a fool to submit the TPP to a republican congress without 'fast track' and republicans have no reason to give it to him. People may or may not like Obama but he is not fool.

As you said, he would just walk away from it now.

The only polls I've found on fast track back up what you say about conservatives.

While opposition is relatively uniform both geographically and demographically, the survey data reveals a sharp partisan divide on the issue. Republicans overwhelmingly oppose giving fast-track authority to the president (8% in favor, 87% opposed), as do independents (20%-66%), while a narrow majority (52%) of Democrats are in favor (35% opposed).

http://fasttrackpoll.info/

On the issue of trade agreements, divisions within the Republican Party are again apparent. Staunch Conservatives are strongly opposed to granting the president fast-track authority: 76% oppose, only 22% favor. Moderate Republicans and Populist Republicans also oppose this proposal; however, their opposition is more muted. Among Moderate Republicans, 53% oppose, 43% favor; among Populists, 57% oppose, 35% favor.

Democratic groups are more united on this issue. Roughly 50% of Liberals, Socially Conservative Democrats and Partisan Poor favor fast track. New Democrats are more likely than any other typology group to endorse the idea — 61% favor.

http://www.people-press.org/1999/11/11/section-6-issues/

[dixiegrrrrl]

37. I do not think there is anything wrong with recognizing similar points of view in other parties.

This attitude of knee jerk opposition to anything and everything that a Republican says is not serving us well at all,
and doing a marvelous job of keeping us divided.

I did not hear Recursion saying anything except that the TTP is so bad both left and right have cause for concern.

[arikara]

38. Exactly right.

n/t

[nilram]

44. +10

[woo me with science]

39. Which is a GOOD thing, and a sign

of how malignant it really is, that it is earning revulsion across party lines.

[Dustlawyer]

24. Beat me to it! This proves what we already knew, the UN sovereignty argument is a tool

to fire up RW idiots!
TPP and Climate Change are the ticking time bombs that put our generation on the hot seat. It is up to us to save or lose everything. Hyperbolic, I think not, but you be the judge!

[AzDar]

16. K & R

[woo me with science]

21. Outstanding post.

To the Greatest Page.

[Overseas]

22. K&R. I hope it can be stopped.

[raouldukelives]

23. K&R Brought to you by the devout efforts of Wall St investors & servants the world over.

Who never encountered a practice or company to vile to fail to profit from or to devote their lives to serving the endgame of.
Millions of people, living lives all in the name of higher quarterly profits, damn the consequences.
Those oppressed in their name? Those that come after them? The wilderness and wildlife choking out in their efforts? The destruction of democracy? Eh, fuck it they say. Money to them is always far greater solace than some quaint notion of living a life that truly tries makes the world a better place or that honors the sacrifices of their forefathers.
I know it may sound far too simple but in my experience the best way to stand against something is to first not stand with it.
Don't like racists? Don't fund them. Don't like conservative politicians? Don't fund them. Hate climate deniers? Don't fund them. It's not a far out concept. It is the basis of a liberal existence. You are what you do, everyday. It is not enough to vote Democratic, we must live Democratic. Our actions have consequences and from where I sit, the TPP is an end around for those who have knowingly and wittingly created the most damage to get out of owning it and that is far removed from Democracy.
Damn those who deny us our voice, dollar by dollar, every day of the year.

[ReRe]

27. K&R

We the People must stop the TPP from becoming law. What we should be passing is law to get The Corporation OUT of our government, not a law to turn our Democracy over to them.

[think]

29. 151 house Democrats signed a letter to the president opposing fast tracking the TPP

http://delauro.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1455:delauro-miller-lead-151-house-dems-telling-president-they-will-not-support-outdated-fast-track-for-trans-pacific-partnership&Itemid=21

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/223923-house-democrats-say-fast-track-tpp-have-no-chance-to-pass

[Faryn Balyncd]

33. That's a good start.

[Zorra]

34. When I click on Rec to Recommend this post, it won't recommend, and

the screen goes to the top of the page.

on edit: Fixed, apparently my script killer was causing the problem.

So, Big K&R!!!

[woo me with science]

36. Kick. Too important to sink.

[Mnemosyne]

41. K&R! nt

[Curmudgeoness]

42. The saddest thing about this is

that this article was written in August 2013, over a year ago, and still all these issues that were addressed in it are not common knowledge.

[woo me with science]

43. kick

[Utopian Leftist]

45. How is it possible

that our President, otherwise so intelligent and keenly insightful on so many issues, is so horribly wrong about this ticking time-bomb called TPP?

How is it POSSIBLE that he can't see its many inherent economic dangers and other slippery slopes? Why will he not take a chance on progressive economic solutions, rather than continuing, against the will of the majority in his own party, not to mention the majority of the country, to prop up the corporate oligarchy? Why be President only for the One-Percenters? Is he simply stubborn or does he really care so little about this country's future? It is as difficult for me to believe that he is ignorant as it is to believe that he is careless and reckless. But I can't imagine any other reason for his support of this nightmare legislation.

[hifiguy]

48. Remember, the first thing he did was call in the Wall Street

powers that be to tell them he was there to save them.

[Rex]

52. It's because of one horrifying fact that none of them will address.

Corporations run this country. People might elect leaders to office, but sadly those leaders answer and take commands from the Fortune 500. Some of them come from and go back into the 500 after office, but no matter what they are all getting paid a great amount of campaign money to support corporations over people. They have power and influence that no single average person has.

Can you imagine having your uncle be appointed to a major finance committee, because your aunt works for a certain company that has endless campaign dollars? There was a time in this country when conflict of interest was a major obstacle to corporations. And with the way instant information is now, it should be 100 times worse for them to not have any transparency.

Yet...who owns 90% of the major news outlets in this country? 6 mega conglomerates. 200 media executives control what 250 million Americans see. I would say they are more powerful than Congress, because they get to interact with people each day. Congress OTOH, likes to hide behind closed sessions.

It is the forever war between labor and capital and guess what? Capital has all the card now and owns all the players. It really does suck, but that is what we let the country become.

[JDPriestly]

47. Thank you.

Here is a sampling of the kinds of cases that corporations brought to the NAFTA court.

http://www.citizen.org/documents/investor-state-chart.pdf

[DemandsRedPill]

49. taking the bet

Sure wish Vegas was taking bets on just what the average citizen will do when TPP is inevitably rubber stamped for their Royal Masters

Or even take a bet on whether or not we will hear so much as even a peep out of the loyal subjects before the fact

Odds favor no peeps and not even mild reactions after the fact

Of course they will all have much to say though

But of course we all know that "when all is said and done, more is said than done"

TPP here we come

[navarth]

50. Paddy Chayefsky in Network

(Paraphrasing) ".....There are no countries, Mr. Beale; there are only corporations."

(Insert picture of Ned Beatty here.)

[Rex]

51. Those of us that watched this country turn into a plutocracy are not surprised at all.

The day Reagan started selling off whole part of America to Japan, was the day people realized it IS about the money and power. That pillow talk of representing the people? Bought outright by a mega conglomerate.

And nobody has to take my word for it, just ask ALEC or the SCOTUS.

PERHAPS the most important asshole, nobody has ever heard of...the damage he has done might be permanent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Weyrich

[Initech]

53. The entire planet would turn into a plutocracy under this agreement.

This is not good for any one. There is no Smedley Butler to protect us from this one.

[Rex]

54. They either killed, bought out or flat out stole the land and imprisoned in pay-for jail cells

any and all Smedley Butlers that were left.

Ike was the last one to tell it like it is. And of course he was no liberal or even a moderate, but a hardcore conservative. So what does that tell you when a 1950s hardcore conservative warns the nation not to let corporations build the MIC and they go and do it anyway and now owns the government that runs the MIC? It wasn't a long haired hippie warning the nation about the Man... it was a 5 star general that was to the FAR RIGHT on the political spectrum.

Did we listen? Hell no, industry got what it wanted. Labor has finally lost and capital has finally won. Game. Set. Match.






Jefferson would say we are living in a waking nightmare.

[imthevicar]

55. And Remember Kids,

The POTUS you defend to your last breath will favor this trade deal, and sell us all out. This is the reason I dislike the President, his ability to snatch defeat from the Jaws of Victory. not some Knee jerk (emphasis on Jerk) pseudo reason made up by RW radio!

[fingrin]

56. Fcuk the TTPA

and all its bullshit corporate greed.
New Zealand enjoys some of the cheapest medicine prices in the world due to Pharmac a NZ Government department that negotiate drug prices. All that will end with TPPA.
Plain cigarette packages being debated? Gone, and if by some miracle the Government does decide to make it law, tobacco corporations will have the right to sue for damages and lost "Profits"
Our laws will be rewritten more in line with our corporate masters agenda.
Deep sea drilling on our pristine shores, well thats a given. Our PM is already pushing to open up native heritage lands for mining.
NZ says FUCK NO!

[Faryn Balyncd]

57. We need to be allowing the negiotiation of lower bulk rates in the US (it was prohibited by the GOP

...when Medicare Part D was passed. That is what we should be doing..... and we should NOT be considering a TPP that extends that prohibition (of negiotiations for better terms from Big Pharma) to other nations in the TPP, from which time the prohibition would be locked in forever, as no participant nation could make a sovereign decision to do so without being sued in the "Investor-State Dispute Resolution" tribunal, since any change would require consent of 100% of participant nations.

[rhett o rick]

58. k & r. Thanks for posting. nm

[burrowowl]

60. K&R!!!!!!!!!!!

[woo me with science]

62. kick