The Trans-Pacific Partnership - the "free trade" deal that undermines a generation of regulation

drummerboy

Mar 10, 2015 at 6:21am Edited

Just got an email soliciting donations for opposing this horrendous piece of legislation. Below are some of the low lights.

It's being negotiated in secret, seemingly controlled and written by corporations, with basically no public input.

This is where the real politics of the day are being practiced. Everything else is pretty much a sideshow.

The TPP is a 12 country, twenty-nine chapter mistake comprising thousands of pages. It has less about trade than it is about corporate privilege and a grab bag of special interest giveaways.

Oil companies got the right to export natural gas without government approval. Fracking companies get the right to sue the US for damages if Congress decides to enforce protections for our water or air.

Drug companies won the right to extend their patents for years. Life-saving generics will be denied to many poor and working people. Medicare and Medicaid will strain under the weight of this profiteering.

Multinationals got a ban on Buy America provisions, giving them even more incentive to ship good jobs abroad. And that’s only the beginning.

ram

Mar 10, 2015 at 6:24am

I am sure that is an accurate description. NOT.

drummerboy

Mar 10, 2015 at 6:28am

You're free to correct anything I've written.

drummerboy

Mar 10, 2015 at 6:28am

I mean, what do you think they've been negotiating about for all of these many months. How many ponies each of us gets?

ram

Mar 10, 2015 at 6:32am

We all get ponies because free trade agreements are win wins that increase growth of all the parties. Always. A "bad" free trade agreement is far better than none.

ridski

Mar 10, 2015 at 6:35am

Can I get a boat instead? I can't ride a pony to Bangladesh from here.

jeffhandy

Mar 10, 2015 at 6:38am

ram said:
We all get ponies because free trade agreements are win wins that increase growth of all the parties. Always. A "bad" free trade agreement is far better than none.

Oh goody, let's negotiate a free-trade treaty with Iran where they can freely buy nuclear material! Because a bad agreement is better than none.

ram wants Iran to have the bomb.

drummerboy

Mar 10, 2015 at 7:53am

ram said:
We all get ponies because free trade agreements are win wins that increase growth of all the parties. Always. A "bad" free trade agreement is far better than none.

right - even though that growth doesn't go to anyone but the upper few percent. It's all good.

How exactly has the average joe benefited from these agreements? $5 dollar shirts at Walmart notwithstanding.

RobB

Mar 10, 2015 at 7:56am

I guess you'd have to consider both sides of the equation. It looks (when you can see through the smog) like the average Chinese citizen is doing much better than 25 years ago.

drummerboy

Mar 10, 2015 at 9:21am

yes, there are benefits to increased trade between nations. Doesn't mean that we're doing it the best way. The U.S., on the whole, has gotten screwed by these agreements. And this agreement appears to be the worst.

mjc

Mar 10, 2015 at 11:31am

what is "entend"?

And db, given the thread title, could you pass along some more info about undermining regulations (granted, it could be here and I missed it).

cheers.

ctrzaska

Mar 10, 2015 at 11:43am

drummerboy said:
yes, there are benefits to increased trade between nations. Doesn't mean that we're doing it the best way. The U.S., on the whole, has gotten screwed by these agreements. And this agreement appears to be the worst.

The Obama administration seems to love this thing. So there's that, at least.

HarryTruman

Mar 10, 2015 at 12:17pm

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

pol100gk

Mar 10, 2015 at 12:20pm

There's another one under negotiation with the EU. But there's a huge protest movement in Europe. Europeans don't want to have chlorine-washed chicken and hormone- infested beef on their supermarket shelves.

ParticleMan

Mar 10, 2015 at 5:34pm

mjc said:
what is "entend"?

I imagine it's a typo for "extend."

drummerboy

Mar 11, 2015 at 1:52am

ParticleMan said:
mjc said:
what is "entend"?

I imagine it's a typo for "extend."

fixed it

drummerboy

Mar 11, 2015 at 1:55am

mjc said:
what is "entend"?

And db, given the thread title, could you pass along some more info about undermining regulations (granted, it could be here and I missed it).

cheers.

well, just taking the details from the op things like extending patents, giving companies the right to sue, negating "Buy American" provisions, etc, are all ways of undermining regulations intended for the public good.

ramzzoinksus

Jun 23, 2015 at 7:28am

Great news - passed procedural vote in Senate. Seems on way to passage. There is no such thing as a bad trade deal. Even unilateral action to open up is great. It is a great day for growth and prosperity.

yahooyahoo

Jun 23, 2015 at 8:30am

Here is a slightly different opinion on that......

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131022/10231424967/us-free-trade-agreements-are-not-just-bad-economy-environment-too.shtml

johnnyr

Jun 23, 2015 at 9:12am

Here's an interesting Economix Comic that gives a good primer on the subject. Disclosure - the author doesn't think the TPP is a good deal.

http://economixcomix.com/home/tpp/

ice

Jun 24, 2015 at 10:16am Edited

Thanks to President Obama (something I rarely say), to the many congressional Republicans, and to the few congressional Democrats it took to get this to where it is. Here's hoping the deal becomes a reality. Wow - bipartisanship at last!

new207040

Jun 24, 2015 at 10:27am

There were horrible trade agreements back in the 70's and 80's with the Japanese and their dumping of consumer electronics --

It essentially forced US based manuf with firms like Zenith and Quasar to bring operations to Mexico as an attempt to compete with the favors given to Japan.

SO this is just business as usual .......

johnnyr

Jun 25, 2015 at 4:43am

Julian Assange has an opinion on the TPP based on the leaked sections of the agreement published on Wiki-Leaks

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/5/27/julian_assange_on_the_trans_pacific

TylerDurden

Jun 25, 2015 at 4:47am

I find it odd that Governments need to make deals to allow for people to freely trade. What is even more curious is that the people are not allowed to know the details of these deals.

marksierra

Jun 26, 2015 at 1:50am

TylerDurden said:
What is even more curious is that the people are not allowed to know the details of these deals.

This.

There is some debate happening here in Australia over exactly what "we" are trading away.

6dave6

Jul 1, 2015 at 7:47pm

johnnyr said:
Here's an interesting Economix Comic that gives a good primer on the subject. Disclosure - the author doesn't think the TPP is a good deal.
http://economixcomix.com/home/tpp/

I have to agree with that "comix" If you cant agree, I don't know where you've been living, the last 30 years

Coneheads

Jul 2, 2015 at 1:11am Edited

It's controlled by Barack Obama, not corporations, you bunch of deniers.

sac

Jul 2, 2015 at 2:16am Edited

If this agreement is so great, why have they gone to such lengths to keep its terms secret?

And just WHO is it great for?

6dave6

Jul 2, 2015 at 7:09pm

Coneheads said:
It's controlled by Barack Obama, not corporations, you bunch of deniers.

um, I don't know you well enough to know if you are serious. I hope your not

dave23

Jul 3, 2015 at 3:55am

I believe the details are kept secret until the deal is completely done. The Planet Money podcast recently has a recent episode on how NAFTA was negotiated and the secrecy around it.

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/06/26/417851577/episode-635-trade-deal-confidential

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