ON MULTIPLE LEVELS …
|| By FITSNEWS || We’ve spent a lot of time exposing the economic pitfalls of “Obamatrade” (nationally and here in South Carolina) – and debunking the notion that to stand against it is to oppose “free trade.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
We’ve also praised those lawmakers who have agreed to stand against its unprecedented corporate cronyism.
What we haven’t written much on is the secretive negotiations associated with the agreement itself – which would impact at least forty percent of the global economy (making it the biggest trade deal in the history of the world).
Obamatrade – as we’ve noted – is a two-part deal. The first part is the process, namely a vote on whether to give the administration of U.S. president Barack Obama “trade promotion authority ” (a.k.a. TPA or “fast-track”) so that he can implement the second part of the deal – the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
We oppose both measures, although practically speaking to oppose TPA is to oppose TPP – because the truth is Obama had his army of corporate “trade representatives” have already been negotiating the deal in secret.
What’s in it?
Good question …
“No member of the public has been allowed to read the document,” writes Bill Curry for Salon. “Neither has any member of Congress, really. A copy lies in a locked room in the Capitol basement. There, relieved by security guards of any cell phones, cameras or recorders, members may read it but are not allowed to take any notes.”
Wait … what country are we living in again?
Curry isn’t the only one sounding the alarm over the secrecy associated with the agreement.
On the other end of the political spectrum we have Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg, who ripped it thusly …
“The content of this unbelievably dangerous gift to multi-national corporations is being kept secret from the public, and for very good reason,” he wrote.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has published a few sections of the report – obtained from his network of whistleblowers. His conclusion?
“It is mostly not about trade,” he said in an interview earlier this year. “Only five of its twenty-nine chapters are about traditional trade, the others are about regulating the internet … regulating labor.”
Indeed the leaked portions of the TPP make it abundantly clear this deal – which would dwarf the economically devastating North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – is more of the same “rigged trade” that enables multinational corporations to shed U.S. jobs.
No wonder Obama wants to keep its contents under lock and key …
This is not the way America is supposed to work, people. Our elected representatives are supposed to conduct the people’s business in the open – in keeping with their best interests. They are not supposed to hand over authority to a president who has a history of abusing the public trust – all so he can ram through a deal that hurts them.
Without a single word of the deal being made public beforehand …
Obamatrade isn’t just economically disadvantageous, it’s anti-democratic … and we would once again call on every member of the South Carolina congressional delegation – Jim Clyburn, Trey Gowdy, Mick Mulvaney, Tom Rice, Mark Sanford and Joe Wilson – to join U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan in opposing it.
If Obamatrade is such a good deal, then it ought to be made public and Congress ought to debate it on its merits.
That’s how representative government is supposed to work …
9 comments
“Wait … what country are we living in again?”
Secret bills, secret spying on its citizens, patriotic fervor that crushes those questioning it:
Oceania
Welcome to Obamanation. Aided by RINOs. The American eagle has been replaced by a RINO. Every one of them needs to be primaried and replaced.
Excellent.RINO’s are more dangerous than Democrats.Problem we have with a primary challenge is the money for a challenger.I know John.He is a good man and well liked.Many are disappointed in him- however not enough to defeat him though.Term limits are the only way to change things.It would wipe the Democrats out.
One guy apparently had enough of Boehner: :)
CINCINNATI — A federal grand jury has indicted an Ohio man on charges of trying to poison House Speaker John Boehner.
Michael Hoyt of Deer Park called 911 in October and told dispatchers that he had wanted to poison Boehner, R-Ohio, at the Wetherington Country Club in West Chester, where Hoyt was a bartender, according to court documents. Hoyt was indicted Jan. 7.
Problem is, what you term a RINO – is the GOP Establishment – and they control the show. Jeb = RINO = Next President of the US.
The picture says it all. Excuse me while I puke.
Mega-dittos to that … on both of ’em.
Those trade deals circumvent the Constitution and leave many democrats, tea drinkers and small “l” libertarians with a very nasty taste in their collective mouths.
Rhinos: republican ‘hos in name only … and they just want to get in on the skim.
You never make agreements public while negotiations are ongoing. There plenty of time to review the final document before debate in Congress’s begins.
What few realize is that the US hardly has any restrictions on imports now. The US collects only about $30 billion in tariffs or about 1% of revenue. About half of the collections are on products the US has not had a competitive edge in years. Clothing, shoes, tableware etcetera. In other words it doesn’t protect jobs, is just another tax on consumers.
If America doesn’t get off it’s outdated 50 year old ideas ideas on trade it’s going to get left behind. In today’s America with only 320 million people / 4.5% of the world’s population is not a large enough market for any high tech or major industrial company to be successful without the majority of their production being exported and without production being spead out around the world. The weakness of our auto industry during the recession is evidence of this fact.
Trade bad. Was never included in the Constitution written by the founding fathers. Trade is not written into the Constitution. And another thing, canals work better than highways. Why aren’t we investing in new canals across this nation. And horses are better than cars. They don’t use fossil fuels, and provide valuable fertilizer in exchange. And electricity – don’t get me started. When did candles become insufficient.
So fits keeps talking about how nobody has read TPP yet, but when i link to the wikileaks release that has the full text of TPP (and its just as bad as we feared) it gets deleted. way to censor people supporting your position fits