General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Want to know just how fake some pro-TPP people really are? [View all]TiberiusB
(487 posts)Your exact words. But you aren't maintaining that street protestors are fakes or that their opinions are not legitimate and not worth considering?
Can you argue in some coherent way for the TPP? Not for Obama, for the the TPP. So far, in most of these threads, I have seen almost all the support revolve around blind trust in the President.
Here, I'll give you some of my reasons for adamantly opposing the TPP...
-Secrecy. Nobody outside of corporate lawyers and lobbyists really knows what's in it. Sure, a Senator might get some limited time with the text, text that's hundreds of pages long and smothered in legalese that even teams of professional lawyers would have to spend months to untangle. And they can't take notes. And they can't bring along any staff or help. But sure, give it a read.
-A legal system completely separate and above any member state's courts, with rulings that are completely binding and cannot be disputed. Yeah. Literally any regulation or law could be gutted if determined to have a negative impact on a corporation's profits. Counting on those cheap generic drugs to help poor people in Africa? Forget it, big Pharma can sue. Want to break up the big banks? No way. Just the opposite, in fact. Keeping them from getting more powerful is stealing future imaginary profits that they are 100% entitled to, because, well, they are better than you. Duh. If a new legal system is needed for the corporations involved in the TPP, why don't we all get access to it? What sort of legal system precludes any chance for appeal once a ruling is reached?
-Longer and more draconian copyright laws are being proposed that eviscerate the entire concept of fair use and protect corporate profits over the public good for entire lifetimes. Forget patent reform, that's for sure.
-Greater trade deficits and a race to the bottom for labor. As with every agreement since NAFTA, this will certainly result in greater exploitation of workers across the globe. NAFTA did it. CAFTA did it. the U.S.-Korea FTA did it. Drag workers down while driving trade deficits through the roof.
Or maybe I'm just misreading the purpose of a super secret trade deal made with some of the worst countries in the world with regards to labor and the environment, that has been shielded from scrutiny for years and now, and, for some reason, must be fast tracked into law or...something bad...I guess. If only we had previous examples of times when we were pressured to cede authority to a select few R-I-G-H-T N-O-W or something bad might happen. Oh well. Given how dependable our government is and how there have been no studies done on how the U.S. is effectively an oligarchy, not a democracy, representative or otherwise, we can just roll over on the TPP.
I'm kidding, there totally is one:
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9354310
Except for those that suffer from OIS, Obama Infatuation Syndrome, there's no coherent reason I can see for supporting fast track or the TPP.