http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2013/04/19/trans-pacific-partnership-strikes-a-blow-against-growth-and-sustainable-development

With little attention from the media, an agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership is being negotiated among the U.S. and other Pacific Rim nations. The TPP has been positioned as merely a trade deal, to harmonize tariffs and other trade rules and promote trade among the countries involved.

But it's much more than that. Described as a "stealthy delivery mechanism for policies that could not survive public scrutiny" the pact aims to severely curtail government authority at all levels. Meanwhile, it would greatly encourage predatory trade that harms communities and the environment.

The official government site on the proposed agreement:

http://www.ustr.gov/tpp


Is this a corporate takeover of government on a global scale?
Negotiations continue beginning on May 15th in Lima, Peru

5/9/2013 1:47:12 PM

Damn you TWW for not allowing edits to titles.

5/9/2013 1:50:02 PM

It's okay, I'll just vote against it next election cycle.

5/9/2013 1:53:03 PM

inb4freetraderstellusthatbigbusinessknowsbest

5/9/2013 5:46:08 PM

The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kill-the-dispute-settlement-language-in-the-trans-pacific-partnership/2015/02/25/ec7705a2-bd1e-11e4-b274-e5209a3bc9a9_story.html
Op-ed written by Elizabeth Warren

3/5/2015 12:45:32 PM

I haven't read anything about this that I liked.

3/5/2015 9:04:44 PM

^^^ true free traders are pro market, not pro business.

3/5/2015 11:22:30 PM

In the parlance of our modern, global economic system the difference between those two is pretty blurred. I mean it's just a case of people using language that is more convenient (because it carries less baggage). Whatever YOU feel the definition of free-trade or pro-market is, it doesn't matter because there is an endless number of actual policy makers waving the "free-trade" and "free-market" flag for their corporatist policies.

3/5/2015 11:43:46 PM

a truly free market will always evolve into protectionist pro-business/corporation policies by the winners, it's only by regulation that you can control this, so making the distinction between the two is pretty pointless

[Edited on March 6, 2015 at 8:25 AM. Reason : .]

3/6/2015 8:17:43 AM

So, the only way to keep corporate interest from becoming codified into law is to create regulations governing corporate interests? And who decides on those regulations and from where do you draw your pool of experts to develop said regulations? Do you think it's just happenstance that you see guys constantly moving back and forth between running big banks and then working for the Fed and Dept. of the Treasury?

One of the most effective ways for a corporation to protect its market share and prevent competitors from entering the market it through regulation. Government is awesome at stifling innovation, creating barriers to entry, etc. It's not coincidence that taxi companies want to keep a hard cap on the number of taxi medallions that exist (or that there even is such a thing as a taxi medallion) and can't stand Uber or Lyft. There's a reason that hotels hate AirBNB, etc.

It's only when you have governments monkeying around in the market that you get these problems. Now, it's probably the case that there will always be some amount of manipulation by governments, but the key is to keep the government from picking winners and losers whether that's talking about Solyndra or Chase.

[Edited on March 7, 2015 at 9:59 PM. Reason : sdfsdf]

3/7/2015 9:57:30 PM

Quote :

"It's only when you have governments monkeying around in the market that you get these problems."

Just, no.

Markets, or governments, being made up of people and groups of people exhibit characteristics that fall across the spectrum of possible outcomes. There are good and bad business just like there are good and bad laws and governments.

Fairly hilarious that you claim "only when governments" on a technology that started in the government and government supported institutions.

3/8/2015 11:21:35 AM

some degree of regulation is needed in business just like it's needed in broader society.

what I mean is precisely what I said, that being a true free-trader is not being pro-business. Regulating a marketplace so that it is fair and intolerant of unethical and undesirable practices is fine; playing favorites or giving handouts to business is not being free market.

3/8/2015 6:42:34 PM

But playing favorites and giving handouts is part of democracy, especially since corporations are people.

So considering you innately have a volatile feedback loop between a market economy and government, there will always be a need to be vigilant in voters/politicians managing this relationship. There's no base set of rules that can be left unperturbed and have a well functioning system.

3/8/2015 7:41:55 PM

https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/

Wikileaks just put out some documents regarding the TPP that were supposed to be kept classified for the time being.

Here is the press release regarding this document dump:
https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/press.html

3/26/2015 9:42:00 AM

BTW, how fucked is it that this stuff us classifed/not open to the public to begin with? There are provisions in this (or maybe it's the trans Atlantic version) that keeps the terms if this treatie out of public record for 4 years after it's passed! Insane.

It's also telling that our reps in Congress aren't being allowed to see it and the lead guy for this in Obamas administration used to be a high ranking member of Citigroup.

3/29/2015 8:35:56 PM

^ Exactly

3/30/2015 9:47:46 AM

It frustrates the hell out of me that this is getting no attention, but every idiot in the country has some opinion on Indiana's religious freedom bill. Never mind that they haven't thought that opinion through or even bothered to read so much as a summary of the law, at least the populous is aware that said religious freedom bill is a thing. I bet a survey would show less than 2% of the population even knows that new multinational trade treaties are being negotiated right now.

4/4/2015 10:33:49 AM

It's possible that not many people know about the fast track legislation that's being proposed in Congress as well.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/lawmakers-grapple-with-fast-track-trade-bill-1424820103

4/4/2015 4:35:06 PM

blame the media!

But, it looks like the Indiana law is actually gonna be amended because of civil protest, so, you can't completely fault the American people for looking the other way. If this law goes through, then more than likely it will be brought up in the election debates.

4/5/2015 12:56:21 PM

Quote :

"It frustrates the hell out of me that this is getting no attention, but every idiot in the country has some opinion on Indiana's religious freedom bill. Never mind that they haven't thought that opinion through or even bothered to read so much as a summary of the law, at least the populous is aware that said religious freedom bill is a thing. I bet a survey would show less than 2% of the population even knows that new multinational trade treaties are being negotiated right now."

Maybe the TPP corporate taskmasters had their puppets raise the RFRA / make a ruckus out of the RFRA in Indiana to draw press and public attention away from this scandal! (adjusts tin foil hat)

4/7/2015 10:37:48 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/business/obama-trade-legislation-fast-track-authority-trans-pacific-partnership.html?_r=0

It takes another step forward.

Strange that it's the Republicans and Obama pushing this, and it's half the democrats leading the opposition.

4/16/2015 3:04:54 PM

What's strange about it? Obama received more money from wall street, large corporate interests, and other "evil" sources than any candidate or president in US history. The guy is every bit as corrupt and hypocritical as any other politician, just look at his record of prosecuting whistle blowers while promising to have the "most transparent administration ever" or his mass numbers of deportations while claming to be pro-immigrant and so on and so on.

Just accept that our political system is nothing but legalized bribery and you'll stop being surprised when it turns out that a person you had hoped would hold strong to some principle disappoints you.

4/16/2015 5:34:37 PM

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/WarrenBrownTPPLetter.pdf

Quote :

"The American people should be allowed to weigh in on the facts of the TPP before Members of Congress are asked to voluntarily reduce our ability to amend, shape, or block any trade deal. The press and the public should be allowed to examine the details that corporate executives and lobbyists have already been allowed to influence for years. Members of Congress should be able to discuss the agreement with our constituents and to participate in a robust public debate instead of being muzzled by classification rules. Before Congress votes to facilitate the adoption of the TPP, the American public should be allowed to see for themselves whether it's a good deal for them."

4/28/2015 9:21:42 PM

The Senate, thanks to Dems who caved, voted to go ahead and fast track today. The coup is now ongoing.
https://www.facebook.com/senatorsanders/photos/a.91485152907.84764.9124187907/10153290583372908/?type=1&theater

5/14/2015 6:12:31 PM

This link is regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP):

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/05/eu-dropped-plans-for-safer-pesticides-because-of-ttip-and-pressure-from-us/

6/1/2015 1:24:48 PM

It looks like the corporate coup is just about complete. Fast Track has passed.

6/23/2015 10:31:15 PM

I read somewhere that Obama actually collided with the Republicans during the Charleston shooting so that the American People never even knew what was happening.

If so then shit, I am dissapoint.

6/25/2015 4:07:55 PM

huh? translation to that post?

6/26/2015 10:59:52 AM

Collided = colluded.

Probably true. On the fence Republicans probably had their palms greased to help pass the fast track authority. Either via campaign funds from TPP proponents or by promises for future considerations from Obama.

6/28/2015 12:44:19 AM

ignoring for a moment the problems of secret negotiations, growth of corporate global influence, the reduction of available low-skill jobs for Americans (we're already scraping the bottom of the barrel on this one anyways) and weakened public-serving regulations, I don't get why TPP is such an influential agreement.

The top 5 nations involved by GDP are US, Japan, Canada, Australia and Mexico. The US has FTAs with all of those except for Japan and I reckon our level of trade with Japan is pretty healthy despite not having a formal FTA.

The other 7 participating countries are Malaysia, Singapore, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, Vietnam and Brunei - not exactly economic powerhouses, only ~2% of both global GDP and population. Is there really all that much potential for economic growth here, particularly for the US?

6/28/2015 12:20:01 PM

The only real concerning thing about it is the ISDS, but again, I'm gonna withhold judgement until we actually know the details. Free trade agreements have always been negotiated with fast track authority so there's nothing new there.

6/28/2015 1:01:46 PM

Nope. Not really. Since we don't actually know what's in the agreement except via a few leaks it's hard to say exactly what's going on there. What has come out is a lot of stuff about corporations being able to sue nations under the terms of this agreement to protect profits. Things like, say, not being able to outlaw a certain type of financial product or setting

While it might be nice to have some universal rules to make things easier in terms of exporting products and meeting safety standards, etc. the main movers for that should probably be some kind of international form of say, Underwriters Laboratory or the like, not a single powerful player within a market like we've seen with Hasbro creating all the safety standards for toy production (and what do you know all those standards just happen to be the ones they already had in place and all the testing requirements can only be certified by a testing center exactly like the one they have). It's a great way to crush small competitors or muscle around less wealthy governments.

The whole thing is fucked, and I'm probably wrong about some of this stuff, but the secrecy around this whole thing is very, very bothersome and suspect.

Here's a decent article about what I'm talking about:

http://rt.com/usa/245093-tpp-corporations-suing-states/

6/28/2015 1:07:04 PM

^^^ I think the benefit is if these countries develop then China's economic power will be reduced (and our economy will have more flexible options for manufacturing and raw materials). Malaysia and Vietnam are supposed have rapidly developing manufacturing sectors. Brunei and Singapore give options other than Chinese ports. Chile is pretty important due to the metals it produces and China has been hoovering them up like crazy. New Zealand I think just tags along with Australia.

I really think the only way for an American to view the TPP as a benefit is through the lens of competing (in a global power sense) with China, and it seems TPP could take some wind out of China's sails.

[Edited on June 28, 2015 at 1:28 PM. Reason : Carrots ]

[Edited on June 28, 2015 at 1:32 PM. Reason : I think you're right, the potential for US economic growth from this is pretty low]

6/28/2015 1:28:03 PM

if you don't take the lead on global commerce, you soon find yourself being lead by others. just ask great britan

the alternative is to let china own our asses. fuck all that. if some poor union schlub has to lose a cushy job, fuck em.

6/28/2015 9:57:31 PM

The thing we've got to consider though, is what if, in the long-run, this agreement actually weakens the US??? If it weakens the buying/consuming power of average Joe American, then America will be less able to project economic strength around the globe, which I think many are recognizing is becoming as important as military strength.

6/29/2015 8:30:52 AM

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/05/tpp-trade-deal-new-zealand-releases-text-online

Quote :

"New Zealand has put the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) online, offering the first detailed look at the world’s largest free trade deal..."

http://tpp.mfat.govt.nz/text

11/5/2015 8:39:13 PM

Quote :

".@BenSasse tells reporters @POTUS looked at Larry Kudlow and said "Go get it done" with respect to rejoining TPP"

https://twitter.com/esaagar/status/984467905071992832
we back

4/12/2018 1:30:45 PM

I'll believe it when I see it, but getting into TPP late and stupid is better than not getting into it at all. God knows agriculture needs it, since it's been the whipping boy for China in this extra-stupid trade war.

But I don't think it'll happen. Once stupid Donald Trump sees the press making fun of him/getting angry at him for changing his mind, he'll backtrack - easy enough, since he didn't so much formally instruct USTR to get back in as he got pouty in a meeting where people were calling his trade policies stupid and said whatever he thought would shut them up. So stupid.

(My new policy is to not even bother varying my vocabulary in describing the policies of Donald J. Trump. No word more perfectly captures them than "stupid.")

4/13/2018 7:54:31 AM

But your wonderful vocabulary is a joy to read.

I'd say it's almost a toss-up between reading your political posts and Frosh's stories.

4/13/2018 7:56:40 AM