ghost town diner
It certainly should, and not just in the primary but for the general election and all the way down ballot - imo - and here's why
Tens of thousands of manufacturing plants as well as millions of manufacturing jobs have been outsourced thanks to trade deals like the TPP.
Both 2016 leading Democratic presidential candidates
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have come out against the
TPP. Until fairly recently most people were unsure where HRC stood on these international trade negotiation deals, which she
has now made clear she does not support regarding TPP specifically stating:
“As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it,”
[...]
“I don’t believe it’s going to meet the high bar that I have.”
And further stating:
I still believe in the goal of a strong and fair trade agreement in the Pacific as part of a broader strategy both at home and abroad, just as I did when I was Secretary of State. I appreciate the hard work that President Obama and his team put into this process and recognize the strides they made. But the bar here is very high and, based on what I have seen, I don't believe this agreement has met it.
This is perhaps Hillary Clintons strongest statement I found
@ the WSJ in my search:
“I don’t believe we can afford to keep giving new agreements the benefit of the doubt,” she said. “The risks are too high that, despite our best efforts, they will end up doing more harm than good for hard-working American families.”
These statements are the most recent I could find from HRC dated October 7-8, 2015.
What could be a concern for Hillary Clinton is the amount of footage that the republicans are sure to use against her without the least prick of compuction if she becomes the Dems presidential nominee regardless of how hypocritical it is coming from the GOP. Here is an example (which I won't post because that is not my point here - but it will most certainly be the republicans) of a video compilation of past statements made by HRC on the Trans Pacific Partnership:
24 times Hillary Clinton championed TPP as Secretary of State
Having TPP type international trade policy debates could prove a vital part of Hillary Clintons campaign. Judging by her experience at the head of the state department and her handling of the recent GOP Benghazi smear marathon, HRC should be well prepared to take this on.
This is a good run down against these corpo trade deals in pdf format from Bernie Sanders:
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: THE TRANS-PACIFIC TRADE (TPP) AGREEMENT MUST BE DEFEATED
Partial excerpt of the introduction:
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a disastrous trade agreement designed to protect the interests of the largest multi-national corporations at the expense of workers, consumers, the environment and the foundations of American democracy. It will also negatively impact some of the poorest people in the world.
The TPP is a treaty that has been written behind closed doors by the corporate world. Incredibly, while Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry and major media companies have full knowledge as to what is in this treaty, the American people and members of Congress do not.
They have been locked out of the process.
Further, all Americans, regardless of political ideology, should be opposed to the “fast track” process which would deny Congress the right to amend the treaty and represent their constituents’ interests.
The TPP follows in the footsteps of other unfettered free trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA and the Permanent Normalized Trade Agreement with China (PNTR).
These treaties have forced American workers to compete against desperate and low-wage labor around the world. The result has been massive job losses in the
United States and the shutting down of tens of thousands of factories. These corporately backed trade agreements have significantly contributed to the race to the bottom, the collapse of the American middle class and increased wealth and income inequality.
The TPP is more of the same, but even worse.
Getting down to the over-all nuts & bolts of it (I've ommitted the details that follow under each heading - fair use reasons):
10 Ways that TPP would hurt Working Families
1) TPP will allow corporations to outsource even more jobs overseas.
2) U.S. sovereignty will be undermined by giving corporations the right to challenge our laws
before international tribunals.
3) Wages, benefits, and collective bargaining will be threatened.
4) Our ability to protect the environment will be undermined.
5) Food Safety Standards will be threatened.
6) Buy America laws could come to an end.
7) Prescription drug prices will increase, access to life saving drugs will decrease, and the profits of
drug companies will go up.
8) Wall Street would benefit at the expense of everyone else.
9) The TPP would reward authoritarian regimes like Vietnam that systematically violate human
rights.
10) The TPP has no expiration date, making it virtually impossible to repeal.
Here is a write-up from Salon recently suggesting debate:
Bernie Sanders’s TPP opportunity: The populist fight he’ll wage against corporate America’s favorite trade deal
by Sean Illing | October 5, 2015
It will be especially interesting to see how the TPP debate impacts the Democratic presidential race. Bernie Sanders has already reacted strongly to the deal. In a letter this morning to supporters, Sanders wrote:
The TPP would expand the same failed ‘free trade’ policies to 12 other nations that have already cost millions of jobs and shuttered tens of thousands of factories across the United States…The TPP follows in the footsteps of other unfettered free trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA that have been supported by corporate America and that cost America millions of decent-paying jobs…Virtually every major union and environmental organization in the U.S. is against the deal. Major religious groups are as well because they know what it could mean for some of the poorest people on the planet.
Bernie’s message will resonate with the Democratic base. Tens of thousands of manufacturing plants as well as millions of manufacturing jobs have been outsourced thanks to trade deals like the TPP. So this issue fits perfectly into his broader campaign narrative.
emphasis added
Here is a video by a Bernie Sanders supporter of the younger generation who lays it out pretty well:
Bernie Sanders Rails Against the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Labor Unions on the whole are strongly against the TPP and here is why in the words of RICHARD TRUMKA, President, AFL-CIO @ PBS interview (video w/ transcript)
Another thing we don't hear enough of is the section on (DRM) Digital Rights Management including TTiP and TiSA discussion
Labor Unions are one of the last remaining pillars of support for the vast majority of middle class workers whether union members or not. This goes double for the Democratic party itself.
It seems to me with so much at stake in 2016 from the presidential race on down to the smallest local races, the US trade policy issues, TPP specifically, could and should be a top priority concern and we need debates covering it - imo - not only to clarify for everyone alive that voting for a republican is a vote against yourself (even the moderately to quite wealthy), but to determine which of our Dem candidates in all races. top to bottom, will be representing real flesh and blood people or representing the 1%er corporations in the years to come.
One of the republican's favorite harangues (massive untruths/lie) is their long time boiler plate propaganda blaming stolen jobs and stagnant wages on immigrants and minorities in order to cover up the fact that it is the corporations and their Wall Street buddies who seek to maximize investor profits by minimizing labor costs and shopping the world labor markets for cheap underpaid, and an un-represented and un-worker safety & civil rights protected labor force. Also to avoid any laws that require environmental protections.
iow's a massive, sustained, heavily marketed lie promulgated and fully financed as an operating expense tax write-off over many decades kind of lie - blaming the most vulnerable people for the shit they themselves do
We should debate and expose this fact about voting for any candidate that is siding with and protecting corporations, their TPP deals, and their dominance over people as nearly every republican politician is paid and required to do as they hollow out America
H/T to Jim P for prompting me to raise these questions and to Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse for letting me borrow..okay I outright stole it.. the lovely multi colored divider (technically a dingbat but it looks too dang purdy to be a dingbat to me)
Time to turn in soon - be back tomorrow curious to see poll results and opinions - thank you :)