Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Trans-Pacific Partnership is No Partnership for Average Americans

 

Why So Secretive? The Trans-Pacific Partnership By Andrew Gavin Marshall, Occupy.Com 24 November 12 http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/441-occupy/14699-focus-why-so-secretive-the-trans-pacific-partnership 

[Excerpted] Dubbed by many as "NAFTA on steroids" and a "corporate coup," only two of the TPP's 26 chapters actually have anything to do with trade. Most of it grants far-reaching new rights and privileges to corporations, specifically related to intellectual property rights (copyright and patent laws), as well as constraints on government regulations.

The leaked documents revealed that the Obama administration "intends to bestow radical new political powers upon multinational corporations," as Obama and Kirk have emerged as strong advocates "for policies that environmental activists, financial reform advocates and labor unions have long rejected for eroding key protections currently in domestic laws."

In other words, the already ineffective and mostly toothless environmental, financial, and labor regulations that exist are unacceptable to the Obama administration and the 600 corporations aligned with the TPP who are giving him his orders.

The agreement stipulates that foreign corporations operating in the United States would no longer be subject to domestic U.S. laws regarding protections for the environment, finance or labor rights, and could appeal to an "international tribunal" which would be given the power to overrule American law and impose sanctions on the U.S. for violating the new "rights" of corporations.

The "international tribunal" that would dictate the laws of the countries would be staffed by corporate lawyers acting as "judges," thus ensuring that cases taken before them have a "fair and balanced" hearing - fairly balanced in favor of corporate rights above anything else.

A public interest coalition known as Citizens Trade Campaign published a draft of the TPP chapter on "investment" revealing information about the "international tribunal" which would allow corporations to directly sue governments that have barriers to "potential profits."

....So, why all the secrecy? Corporate and political decision-makers study public opinion very closely; they know how to manipulate the public based upon what the majority think and believe. When it comes to "free trade" agreements, public opinion has forced negotiators into the darkness of back-room deals and unaccountable secrecy precisely because populations are so overwhelmingly against such agreements.

An opinion poll from 2011 revealed that the American public has - just over the previous few years - moved from "broad opposition" to "overwhelming opposition" toward NAFTA-style trade deals.
A major NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll from September of 2010 revealed that "the impact of trade and outsourcing is one of the only issues on which Americans of different classes, occupations and political persuasions agree," with 86% saying that outsourcing jobs by U.S. companies to poor countries was "a top cause of our economic woes," with 69% thinking that "free trade agreements between the United States and other countries cost the U.S. jobs." Only 17% of Americans in 2010 felt that "free trade agreements" benefit the U.S., compared to 28% in 2007.

Because public opinion is strongly - and increasingly - against "free trade agreements," secrecy is required in order to prevent the public from even knowing about, let alone actively opposing, agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. And this, as U.S. Trade Representative Kirk explained, is a very "practical" reason for all the secrecy....

MAJIA HERE: TIME TO OPPOSE THIS TRADE DEAL!


 

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