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Free Trade

Revolution’s Matchstick Catches Fire . . .

June 26, 2015 Rivera Sun, www.riverasun.com , , ,
By Rivera Sun - In our real lives, we are witnessing the advance of the corporate coup. The latest slurry of acronyms (TAA, TPA, FTA, TPP, TTIP) spells out the coded story of the rise of corporate power over living, breathing people. The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is still shrouded in secrecy, but one detail we know from leaked text is that a transnational trade tribunal will have the authority to overturn local, state, and federal laws as barriers to trade. Gone is our right to clean water and air. (China doesn’t have them, so neither should US citizens – such regulations hamper corporations’ ability to compete.) Gone is the dream of living wages (third world nations don’t have them, and neither should Americans – it gets in the way of corporations finding cheap labor).

“King Obama,” His Royal Court, And The TPP

June 26, 2015 Ralph Nader, www.facebook.com , , , ,
By Ralph Nader - The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – a global corporate noose around U.S. local, state, and national sovereignty – narrowly passed a major procedural hurdle in the Congress by gaining “fast track” status. This term “fast track” is a euphemism for your members of Congress – senators and representatives – handcuffing themselves, so as to prevent any amendments or adequate debate before the final vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership – another euphemism that is used to avoid the word “treaty,” which would require ratification by two-thirds of the Senate. This anti-democratic process is being pushed by “King Obama” and his royal court. Make no mistake. If this was only a trade treaty – reducing tariffs, quotas, and the like – it would not be so controversial.

Six Ways TPP Opponents Have Won, Even As Fast Track Advances

June 26, 2015 Sarah Anderson, www.nationofchange.org , , ,
By Sarah Anderson in Nation of Change - I tried to stay emotionally distanced from this one. It didn’t work. When the White House and Republican leaders got the votes they needed in the Senate to advance “fast track” Trade Promotion Authority on Tuesday, June 23, it was crushing. All observers agree that fast track will soon become law, making it easier for President Barack Obama to pass the controversial trade pacts in the works with Pacific Rim nations and the European Union. That will be a serious setback to the movements for the environment, labor rights, and affordable pharmaceuticals, among others. But after observing painful trade votes for more than 20 years, this one left me feeling that opponents should be holding their heads higher than ever before as they regroup for the next phase of the fight. Here are a few reasons why:

Is The Trans-Pacific Partnership Unconstitutional?

June 26, 2015 Alan Morrison, www.theatlantic.com , , ,
By Alan Morrison in The Atlantic - It is January 2017. The mayor of San Francisco signs a bill that will raise the minimum wage of all workers from $8 to $16 an hour effective July 1st. His lawyers assure him that neither federal nor California minimum wage laws forbid that and that it is fine under the U.S. Constitution. Then, a month later, a Vietnamese company that owns 15 restaurants in San Francisco files a lawsuit saying that the pay increase violates the “investor protection” provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement recently approved by Congress. The lawsuit is not in a federal or state court, but instead will be heard by three private arbitrators; the United States government is the sole defendant; and the city can participate only if the U.S. allows it.

Health Care Only For The Rich Under The TPP

June 26, 2015 Pete Dolack, www.zcomm.org , , ,
Health care will take a large step toward becoming a privilege for those who can afford it rather than a human right under the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Government programs to hold down the cost of medications are targeted for elimination in the TPP, which, if adopted, would grant pharmaceutical companies new powers over health care. This has implications around the globe, as such rules could become precedents for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and Trade In Services Agreement, two other deals being negotiated in secret. The U.S. Congress’ failure to pass “fast-track” authority in the past week has thrown a significant roadblock in the path of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but by no means has this most audacious corporate power grab been defeated.

Choreographed Corruption Passes Fast Track, But Not Over Yet

June 25, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Paul Jay, www.therealnews.com , ,
By Kevin Zeese and Paul Jay in The Real News - We're basically at the stage of dealing with giving the President trade promotion authority, which we call fast track because it means Congress has a very cursory role. They just debate it on the two floors. No amendments, an up or down vote, if the President has that power. They also had to pass a separate piece for labor assistance called TAA, which was to provide assistance to workers who lose their job because of trade. So this is all procedural. This is how they're going to approach the trade issue. They could have approached it without fast track. Had committee hearings, had expert witnesses, took testimony, debated in committee rooms, taken citizen input, had a floor debate, amendments on the floor.

The President’s Trade Deal Struggles Because It’s Bad Policy

June 19, 2015 Stan Sorscher, www.huffingtonpost.com , , ,
By Stan Sorscher in Huffington Post - The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a 12-country NAFTA-style trade deal with two serious problems. It doesn't work, and it's bad for democracy. First, everyone is in favor of trade. We can have good trade policy that raises living standards or bad trade policy that works fabulously well for a few, but very badly for everyone else. More than any other policy, trade policy creates winners and losers. For instance, pharmaceutical companies are big winners. Their expanded patent monopolies will cost everyone else billions. Nike is a winner because new investor protections will apply to its operations in Vietnam, where Nike already exploits the lowest cost labor they could find on earth.

Fast Track To The Corporate Wish List

June 18, 2015 David Dayen, www.prospect.org , , , ,
By David Dayen in Propsect - Pharmaceutical companies, software makers, and Hollywood conglomerates get expanded intellectual property enforcement, protecting their patents and their profits. Some of this, such as restrictions on generic drugs, is at the expense of competition and consumers. Firms get improved access to poor countries with nonexistent labor protections, like Vietnam or Brunei, to manufacture their goods. TPP provides assurances that regulations, from food safety to financial services, will be “harmonized” across borders. In practice, that means a regulatory ceiling. In one of the most contested provisions, corporations can use the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) process, and appeal to extra-judicial tribunals that bypass courts and usual forms of due process to seek monetary damages equaling “expected future profits.”

Scapegoating Labor For Fast Track’s Defeat

June 17, 2015 Jim Naureckas, www.fair.org , , , ,
By Jim Naureckas in FAIR - Corporate media have a storyline ready to explain the defeat (for the time being, anyway) of the Trans Pacific Partnership : Big Labor is to blame. This was set up well in advance of progressive Democrats outmaneuvering the Obama administration in Congress to thwart the passage of fast track authority—expedited rules for approving trade pacts that are seen as necessary to pass TPP, a vast commercial agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations. A Wall Street Journal editorial (4/16/15) laid it out in April: In the US, Democrats have tried to prevent giving the president trade promotion authority precisely because it will extend trade across both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. For their friends in Big Labor, this is anathema.

ISDS Provisions In TPP Violate U.S. Constitution

June 17, 2015 Gaius Publius, www.downwithtyranny.blogspot.com , ,
By Gaius Publius in Down With Tyranny - None of these [previously discussed court] decisions resolves the constitutionality of the TPP ISDS arbitration procedures, but their collective reasoning falls heavily on the side of unconstitutionality, based on four factors that apply to the TPP tribunals: (1) they deal with questions of law, that judges normally decide, not questions of fact, that could go to juries or arbitrators; (2) the arbitrators are not federal officers, construing and applying federal law, but are private parties, none of whom has to be an American citizen; (3) the consent of the United States is general and not case specific and, where the challenge is to a state or local law, the state or locality never consents at all...

Fast Track Hands Money Monopoly To Private Banks, Permanently

June 16, 2015 Ellen Brown, www.flushthetpp.org , , ,
By Ellen Brown in Flush The TPP! - In March 2014, the Bank of England let the cat out of the bag: money is just an IOU, and the banks are rolling in it. So wrote David Graeber in The Guardian the same month, referring to a BOE paper called “Money Creation in the Modern Economy.” The paper stated outright that most common assumptions of how banking works are simply wrong. The result, said Graeber, was to throw the entire theoretical basis for austerity out of the window. The revelation may have done more than that. The entire basis for maintaining our private extractive banking monopoly may have been thrown out the window.

EU Parliamentarians Call On Congress To Stop Fast Track

June 16, 2015 Mackenzie McDonald, www.flushthetpp.org , , ,
By Mackenzie McDonald in Flush The TPP! - After the recent rejection of the Fast Track Package, the White House will insist on a new vote that will be held today. Since the negotiations of bilateral trade agreements (including TTIP) by the European Commission take place under a procedure which is equivalent to the proposed Fast Track, the undersigned members of the European Parliament would like to make clear their experience and position regarding bilateral trade treaties. It is clear that TPP and TTIP are far reaching treaties which would have deep consequences for all countries involved and their citizens, and it is crucial that different interests are taken into account, which can only be done by democratically elected representatives. However, the proposed Fast Track Package would allow the Administration to legislate bypassing the will and opinion of Congress, undermining the principle of separation of powers.

Paul Ryan Adds Amendment To Trade Bill To Block Climate Deals

June 12, 2015 Clare Foran, www.nationaljournal.com , , ,
By Clare Foran in National Journal - If House Republicans get their way, President Obama won't be able to use any trade pact to strike a deal on climate change. Late Tuesday evening, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin offered up an amendment to a customs bill that would "ensure that trade agreements do not require changes to U.S. law or obligate the United States with respect to global warming or climate change." The customs bill is intended to amend so-called "fast-track" trade legislation that could see a House vote as early as this Friday. Fast-track would allow Congress an up-or-down vote on trade deals negotiated by the White House. The trade legislation sets out negotiating priorities that Congress expects the White House to abide by when striking international trade deals. House Republicans have promised to reject any deal that does not meet the objectives.

G7 Protesters Unite In Opposition To Transatlantic Trade Deal

June 11, 2015 Charlie Skelton, www.occupy.com , , ,
By Charlie Skelton in Occupy - “It’s the largest police operation in the history of Bavaria,” said Martin Jäschke, a journalist from Der Spiegel. “Such a huge display of power like this, I’m afraid people feel it’s a provocation.” At the very least, it feels a bit weird. There could not actually be any more police in Garmisch than there are right now. There wouldn’t be room. There are traffic jams of police vehicles. Every spare inch of tarmac has been commandeered for police coaches, riot vans and operations trucks. The only cars on the road that aren’t police cars are being driven by plainclothes policemen. This is the kind of response you might expect.

Leaked Text Shows Big Pharma Using TPP Against Global Health

June 11, 2015 Deirdre Fulton, www.commondreams.org , , , ,
By Deirdre Fulton in Common Dreams - Bolstering long-held criticisms from public interest groups, newly leaked sections of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) show how Big Pharma is employing "an aggressive new form of transnational corporatism" to increase profits at the expense of global health. The TPP's "Healthcare Annex"—which seeks to regulate government policies around medicines and medical devices—would give big pharmaceutical companies more power over public access to medicine while crippling public healthcare programs around the world and "tying the hands" of the U.S. Congress in its ability to pursue Medicare reform and lower drug costs. President Barack Obama is trying to gain Fast Track approval from the U.S. House of Representatives as early as tomorrow, having already obtained it from the Senate, which would grant him increased power to push the TPP and other mammoth trade pacts through Congress.
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