Mark Weisbrot, writing at Aljazeera is of the opinion that the public discussion of the TPP has been much more robust than discussion of NAFTA had ever been. And that even though the proposed agreement is cloaked in secrecy, enough has been leaked that the TPP proponents have lost the public argument and are resorting to lies and increased secrecy to bully the American people into quieting down their opposition.
Lauded economists Krugman, Stiglitz and Baker have all come out in strong opposition to the TPP:
This week, economists Dean Baker and Paul Krugman warn that people should be suspicious of any agreement that leads its proponents to lie and distort so much in order to sell it. They called attention to President Barack Obama’s former Chief of Staff William M. Daley, who made the ridiculous claim in a New York Times op-ed that it is “because our products face very high barriers to entry overseas in the form of tariffs, quotas and outright discrimination” that the U.S. ranks 39th of the 40 largest economies in exports as a share of GDP. As Baker and Krugman pointed out, it is actually because the U.S. is a very large economy, and therefore the domestic market is sufficient for many U.S. companies.
This is just one of the many arguments in TPP’s favor that cannot pass the smell test. Take the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism, which enables businesses to sue governments and can force them to overrule their laws, even the decisions of their highest courts, or pay hefty fines. Proponents’ alleged rationale for including this provision is to protect foreign investors in countries where the rule of law is weak. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate economist like Krugman, pointedly asks why it is included in the proposed trade agreement with Europe (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). Let me offer you a hint: It’s not because Germany and France are likely to expropriate factories owned by foreign investors, or that their judicial systems are weak on investors’ rights.
Those concerned about the environment, public health, food safety and labor have all strongly expressed their concerns, as I wrote about
here.
Weisbrot believes that all the TPP proponents have left is President Obama's fear inducing message that: ‘If we don’t write the rules, China will write the rules’ . Of course, China isn't even part of the initial group of proposed TPP members, but the writing is on the wall, if this deal goes through China is next in line for membership.
Thing is, we now know who is writing the rules behind the curtain. This is a global power grab by the largest multi-national corporate and industry entities in history.
9:21 AM PT: Best action to take now is to contact your congress critter . Contact information is in link.
http://www.house.gov/...
