'Fast Track' To Nowhere: Congress Shouldn't Give Obama Power To Ram Through TPP

[RiverLover]

'Fast Track' To Nowhere: Congress Shouldn't Give Obama Power To Ram Through TPP
Forbes
12/16/14

If the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade and global governance agreement has any chance at passage, it will require the usual alliance of Wall Street Democrats and Wall Street Republicans. Disgruntled citizens voted to “throw the bums out” because they were not delivering jobs and prosperity. Yet there is a danger that President Obama and the Republican leadership did not get the message.

The Obama administration may soon be enabled by some in the GOP to pass the globalists’ biggest wish: “fast-track” trade authority on the road to the massively misguided Trans-Pacific Partnership.

It has made for titillating journalism to speculate on how these strange bedfellows will overcome opposition from blue collar Republicans and Democrats, and the fractiousness of the current Congress, to collaborate on further gutting America’s productive supply chains through unilateral trade disarmament and enablement of foreign mercantilism. The kumbaya trade agreement cheerleader crowd has convinced itself that 40 years of trade deficits don’t matter, even as the shrinkage of GDP growth has rendered the U.S. a dwindling superpower teetering on the brink of second class economy status.

Misunderstanding Trade

The left-right Wall Street alliance of TPP cheerleaders relies upon a fundamental misunderstanding of trade, its role in the world and its role in economic growth. National income accounting makes it clear that gross domestic product is the sum of four factors: consumption, investment, government procurement and net trade (exports minus imports).

That’s net trade — not gross trade. In other words, net exports increase our economic size while net imports shrink it. This is not a liberal plot, or a Tea Party plot, or a protectionist plot. It is basic and uncontroversial economic math that the TPP cheerleaders either don’t understand or don’t want to.

In 2013, the U.S. economy amounted to $16.8 trillion. Consumption was about 68% of GDP. Investment was about 16%. Government procurement was about 19%. But net trade subtracted about 3% from our economy (because imports exceeded exports). This shrinkage is cumulative, compounding year after year.

America is the picture of an unbalanced economy, disproportionately relying upon unsustainable consumption. Investment is too small, and should be 4% to 6% higher. Net trade should add to our economy, or at least not subtract from it. Consumption should increase in absolute terms, but should be a smaller percentage of our economy....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2014/12/16/fast-track-to-nowhere-congress-shouldnt-give-obama-power-to-ram-through-tpp/

[djean111]

1. Oh, Congress doesn't even need to change the position it assumed when passing the

Citibank Gift. All that is left to see, IMO, is how many "Democrats" vote for Fast Track.
But, hey! Cuba! Although, of course, Congress can still block a real lifting of the pointless embargo. Depends on polls and how they think lifting the embargo affects reelections and such. Actually, that pretty much sums up most of Washington these days - People are not nearly as important as getting campaign money and getting reelected. It is getting to be a joke. A really bad joke.

[pampango]

2. Why would a republican congress give Obama 'fast track'? Without it the republican majority

has the power to strip out any provisions like labor and the environment that they don't like. And they have the votes to approve the resulting watered-down, more-conservative friendly agreement.

They don't trust Obama not to put in provisions they they won't like. With 'fast track' the republican majority in congress is stuck voting up-or-down on an agreement negotiated by a guy they don't like or trust. Without it, they can rewrite the agreement any way they want.



http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/11/07/why-cant-we-all-get-along-challenges-ahead-for-bipartisan-cooperation/

While opposition is relatively uniform both geographically and demographically, the survey data reveals a sharp partisan divide on the issue. Republicans overwhelmingly oppose giving fast-track authority to the president (8% in favor, 87% opposed), as do independents (20%-66%), while a narrow majority (52%) of Democrats are in favor (35% opposed).

http://fasttrackpoll.info/

[Scuba]

3. Interesting how the Republicans aren't constantly screaming about Obama's TPP being traitorous.