Harry Reid does something good. He won't Fast Track the TPP

[blankslate]

Maybe you haven't heard about the TPP aka TransPacific Partnership. Not very many news stories have been broadcast about it.

Probably because it's not that "interesting" compared to Obamacare and Bridgegate.

However, imo, it's the worst thing that President Obama has been advocating .

It's NAFTA on steroids

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013...opular-sovereignty-for-the-united-states.html

http://americablog.com/2013/11/bill...hip-free-trade-agreement-death-democracy.html

The most alarming aspect of it is that foreign corporations can sue the U.S. Government (and other governments) and bind them with arbitration if some regulation is detrimental to their profits.
http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...c-free-trade-deal-regulation-by-lawyers-eu-us

The commission insists that its Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership should include a toxic mechanism called investor-state dispute settlement. Where this has been forced into other trade agreements, it has allowed big corporations to sue governments before secretive arbitration panels composed of corporate lawyers, which bypass domestic courts and override the will of parliaments.

Harry Reid has said recently that he won't bring a motion to fast track the TPP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/29/harry-reid-fast-track_n_4689240.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) appears not to have been swayed by President Barack Obama's State of the Union appeal to Congress to push through trade deals, declaring flatly on Wednesday that he opposes so-called fast-track authority for the White House.

Fast track, known formally as Trade Promotional Authority, essentially requires Congress to give international trade agreements negotiated by the president an up-or-down vote with no chance for amendments.

The fast-track authority lapsed during the administration of George W. Bush, and Obama would like to revive it in hopes of passing his ambitious and murky Trans-Pacific Partnership pact, which many opponents on the left and right fear will undermine the United States' ability to maintain its own labor and environmental protections.

In my opinion Senator Reid's position on this is a very good sign because now lawmakers will have more time look at the TTP and even amend it if they wish.

If the agreement was fast tracked then it would've been much easier to pass the agreement without as much scrutiny. If fast track authority is denied for the TPP Congress can subpoena witnesses to testify on what the agreement does to our economy.

This is important because in my opinion the recent free trade bills have been much more harmful to the U.S. economy then they have been helpful (if at all).


The best case scenario to me would be if this agreement dies.




....

 

[Matt1970]

Haven't we learned our lesson yet with trade agreements?

 

[Oldgamer]

I hope they don't get this thing passed and approved. From my understanding this would be devastating to our countries economy and put even more workers out of jobs. They were saying on the news this is just NAFTA on steriods.

 

[Munky]

It's ridiculous that such a "treaty" would even exist in the first place. It sounds like some conspiracy theory BS, and yet here it is hidden in plain sight.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Agreed, however we have lost our odd conservative and liberal alliance to eliminate this bill. We (the US) are always the sucker in trade deals.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

TPP is bad

 

[Engineer]

Agreed, however we have lost our odd conservative and liberal alliance to eliminate this bill. We (the US) are always the sucker in trade deals.

Who is the we...the 99% or the 1%? Seems the 1% do quit nicely on those treaties...the rest, not so much, especially the middle/lower middle class people who usually lose their jobs because of such bull.

 

[Incorruptible]

Hopefully it doesn't get passed as this won't be good at all for the US. Not surprised at all that obama is supporting this.

 

[werepossum]

Maybe you haven't heard about the TPP aka TransPacific Partnership. Not very many news stories have been broadcast about it.

Probably because it's not that "interesting" compared to Obamacare and Bridgegate.

However, imo, it's the worst thing that President Obama has been advocating .

It's NAFTA on steroids

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013...opular-sovereignty-for-the-united-states.html

http://americablog.com/2013/11/bill...hip-free-trade-agreement-death-democracy.html

The most alarming aspect of it is that foreign corporations can sue the U.S. Government (and other governments) and bind them with arbitration if some regulation is detrimental to their profits.
http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...c-free-trade-deal-regulation-by-lawyers-eu-us Harry Reid has said recently that he won't bring a motion to fast track the TPP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/29/harry-reid-fast-track_n_4689240.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

In my opinion Senator Reid's position on this is a very good sign because now lawmakers will have more time look at the TTP and even amend it if they wish.

If the agreement was fast tracked then it would've been much easier to pass the agreement without as much scrutiny. If fast track authority is denied for the TPP Congress can subpoena witnesses to testify on what the agreement does to our economy.

This is important because in my opinion the recent free trade bills have been much more harmful to the U.S. economy then they have been helpful (if at all).


The best case scenario to me would be if this agreement dies.

....

Agreed, and well said.

 

[Fern]

Well, I haven't heard anything about this and am too busy with other things to check it out sufficiently. Just wanted to say I would damn happy if Harry finally did something good for a change.

Fern

 

[SlickSnake]

All these "free trade agreements" that have ever been passed (or signed and approved as the case may be) have always hurt the struggling middle class and the poor. They are primarily drafted and designed to only help the large corporations and the wealthy stock holders take advantage of moving native local resources, labor and investment money away from the countries that pass them.

So for anyone in the senate or congress to oppose one, is probably going to be political suicide when the corporate donors and sponsors are asked to pony up for election contributions.

 

[Oldgamer]

Well, I haven't heard anything about this and am too busy with other things to check it out sufficiently. Just wanted to say I would damn happy if Harry finally did something good for a change.

Fern

Here are some articles on it:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-new-trade-pact-will-hurt-us-wages/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-nashhoff/why-the-trans-pacific-par_b_3186557.html

These are clips of Ed Schultz talking about it, yea I know he can be annoying but he lays out some of the specifics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2UzeEyGguM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cv40zvjGAs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws87OnUASWg

 

[Double Trouble]

This thing has all the red flags of something really bad for the US consumer. They want to keep it under wraps, with no public discussion on what is actually in it and what it does. That's a huge red flag. The president wants to revive the ability to ram through agreements without the senate effectively debating it or adding amendments -- another huge red flag.

This thing needs to be taken out back and shot, I'm glad Reid did the right thing this time.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Obama will oppose this. No, wait.

 

[davmat787]

This thing has all the red flags of something really bad for the US consumer. They want to keep it under wraps, with no public discussion on what is actually in it and what it does. That's a huge red flag. The president wants to revive the ability to ram through agreements without the senate effectively debating it or adding amendments -- another huge red flag.

This thing needs to be taken out back and shot, I'm glad Reid did the right thing this time.

This. And it is all a citizen should have to know in order to oppose TPP.

I keep asking myself what the solution is to sell out deals like this and lesser ones. I keep coming back to getting money out of politics, which leads to public funded elections.

Public funded elections might just be a path we have to consider, otherwise what leverage does the average citizen have? Time and time again politicians campaign on one thing, like transparency, and then do a 180 when elected, like trying to fast track trade bills and nullify any public discourse on it.

So damn frustrating.

 

[Engineer]

Damn, what a shitty agreement (in reality, they all are but this one is nuts). I really, really, really hope this dies but somehow, I feel that it's going to pass and most will never hear about it until it kicks the middle class teeth in again.

 

[gdansk]

I don't know why they didn't make the whole thing public. If you read through the IP part, it's not as bad as it sounds.

The US is the world's leading content producer. It could easily benefit us at the expense of other signatories (if enforced equally).

 

[Engineer]

I don't know why they didn't make the whole thing public. If you read through the IP part, it's not as bad as it sounds.

The US is the world's leading content producer. It could easily benefit us at the expense of other signatories (if enforced equally).

The BOLDED never happens on any agreement and EVERY agreement that was signed was supposed to benefit us. I guess the 'us' in this case isn't the average 99%'er....

 

[DucatiMonster696]

Its redistribution of the US's wealth to the rest of the impoverished world?? Why are you people being so greedy?? Don't you understand that we live in GLOBAL COMMUNITY?? /tongue-in-cheek

 

[Anarchist420]

i would honestly hate it less if the u.s.g. legislated and enforced a 10% ad valorem tariff on all imports, canceled all trade agreements it is currently a signatory to, and entered into no new ones than having any multinational or global regulations... at least old fashioned tariffs can be evaded because they arent policed on a global basis (i.e., the U.S.G is less effective at policing tariffs since it would be alone in policing them.)

unfortunately, the State doesnt compromise once it comes up with new ways to oppress people.

 

[sandorski]

Its redistribution of the US's wealth to the rest of the improvised world?? Why are you people being so greedy?? Don't you understand that we live in GLOBAL COMMUNITY?? /tongue-in-cheek

Was it supposed to be "impoverished"?

 

[PokerGuy]

I think this might be one of the signs of the coming of the apocalypse, but I agree 100% with blankslate and Oldgamer. Hmmm... maybe I need to re-evaluate

Reid did the right thing to not fast track this crap, but that doesn't mean it's going away. There is a lot of lobby money backing it, it's not going anywhere.

Of course this secretly negotiated pact is exactly what obummer promised us when he was campaigning and talking about openness and transparency in government right? oh, wait.....

 

[FerrelGeek]

Obama will oppose this. No, wait.

Well, Obama did say, again, that this year he'd be focusing on our economy. This must be how he wants to spread income equality - make more people equally poor.

We just have to pray that Reid doesn't find a way to profit from this or he'll turn on a dime and ram it through.

 

[Engineer]

Its redistribution of the US's wealth to the rest of the improvised world?? Why are you people being so greedy?? Don't you understand that we live in GLOBAL COMMUNITY?? /tongue-in-cheek

Pretty ironic statement considering some of the things you've posted around here, especially about offshoring and outsourcing.

 

[Matt1970]

That giant sucking sound would get a whole lot louder.