Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Hillary Clinton needs to state her position on Trans-Pacific Partnership

[antigop]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/04/sen-elizabeth-warren-hillary-clinton-needs-to-state-her-position-on-trans-pacific-partnership/

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren on Thursday said Hillary Clinton should stake out a position on a multi-nation trade deal being finalized by the Obama administration.

Warren, in an interview broadcast Thursday on CBS “This Morning,” said that she will say where she stands on “all of the key issues, it’s up to others to say whether they stand there as well, or if they stand in some different place.”
...
CBS host Charlie Rose asked Warren to name one issue on which she would like to see Clinton delineate a stance. Warren pointed out the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement between the U.S. and 11 other countries being negotiated by the administration, which will need approval from the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress.

“You know we have a big debate going on right now on trade within the Democratic Party,” Warren said, citing her opposition to dispute-resolution language in the trade pact.

[antigop]

1. Hillary's Business Legacy at State Dept (leading part in drafting TPP)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101667554

On her 79th and probably last overseas trip as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton made a pit stop in the Czech Republic. One purpose of the 11-hour visit on Dec. 3, squeezed between NATO talks on the future of Afghanistan and the Syrian civil war, was to make a personal appeal to Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas on behalf of Westinghouse Electric, which is vying for a contract to build a nuclear power plant there. The company is locked in a $10 billion bidding war with a state-owned Russian energy giant, and Clinton pressed the Czech officials about the wisdom of depending on Vladimir Putin’s Russia for something as essential as electricity. Westinghouse Chief Executive Danny Roderick, who’s still awaiting a decision, says Clinton’s intervention made a big impression on the Czechs: “I was proud that she was in the trenches with me.”

In four years as the nation’s top diplomat, Clinton, who is expected to step down this month, has made dozens of similar sales pitches on behalf of U.S. companies. In 2009 she toured a Boeing plant in Moscow and met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to persuade state-owned Russian Technologies to buy 50 Boeing 737s instead of jets made by Airbus. That $3.7 billion deal was one of several large contracts Clinton helped clinch for Boeing (BA). In December 2011, Lockheed Martin (LMT) announced a $7.2 billion deal to upgrade Japan’s aging fighter jet fleet, beating out Eurofighter. Clinton advocated for the contract with her Japanese counterpart at the United Nations General Assembly. In February 2012, Space Systems/Loral, which builds communications satellites in Palo Alto, won a contract for equipment to create a national broadband network in Australia. Clinton met with former Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd several times to press for the deal. Last summer, Clinton’s undersecretary for economic growth, Robert Hormats, a former Goldman Sachs (GS) vice chair, took executives from Google (GOOG), MasterCard (MA), and Dow Chemical (DOW) to Myanmar to network with government officials, the first such meeting since sanctions against the country were lifted in 2012.

...
She’s pressed the case for U.S. business in Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries in China’s shadow. She’s also taken a leading part in drafting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the free-trade pact that would give U.S. companies a leg up on their Chinese competitors.

[appalachiablue]

28. Didn't know it was Commerce Secretary, thought it was Secy. of State

[DonCoquixote]

2. perfect timing

As Hillary will start running officaly on Sunday, she will need to state her positions on issue like the TPP. iF Liz were trying to run against Hillary, this would be a fine way to press Hillary to speak.

[WillyT]

3. K & R !!!

[Autumn]

4. Please cross post this in the Elizabeth Warren group

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1265

[antigop]

6. go right ahead. nt

[antigop]

5. MSNBC: Hillary Clinton Stays Silent On TPP (Video)

[Dragonfli]

7. Well according to a graph put out by people that say to take their methodology with a grain of salt

Hillary Clinton is a far left fringe politician, so of course she opposes the TPP.

Only right of center corporatists would approve of something so harmful to working Americans that grants sovereignty to foreign corporations at our expense. Duh.

[delrem]

14. Graphs are fantastic, Dragonfli!

They eliminate the need for words, for thoughts, for analysis, and they immediately pinpoint The Truth.
It doesn't matter what graph! But I do recommend choosing graphs that make you feel good. Else where's the point?
I like the graph that pinpoints HRC as exactly, with no deviation even an iota, at the center of the center-left. That graph perfectly matches my mind

I like graphs even more than I like PEW polls.
Tho' I've gotta say, I love me some PEW polls!
I can't remember the exact moment I found out about the wonders of PEW polls, I guess I wasn't paying attention (heh, strike the words "I guess", 'cause when have I ever?), but now that I've discovered PEW polls it's like riding down a slide slicked with mineral oil. Sweet.
And if there's a likeable graph at the end, it's heaven.

[Dragonfli]

15. If you like graphs, you will love this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12775222

You will have to forget the one at thy top however, it will not reinforce the actual truth you envision that absolutely must be the correct reading. Forgetting is easy, it is also the road to happiness.

I heard there was a war once, but I forget if it really happened, so I know it didn't.

[delrem]

17. I like the bottom one.

It has a square inside diamonds inside diamonds, and one non-confusing red spot.
I think the red spot should've been better centered in the "left liberal" diamond, for better impact. But that's just personal opinion, probably the result of my ODD (oppositional defiant disorder), which I'm being treated for but, y'know, it's catch-22 since because of my ODD I won't take the medications!

In any case my vote goes to that red spot!

[Dragonfli]

26. Red spot 2012!!

A candidate for 100% of geometric shapes.

Don't worry, If we run a teal spot from the appropriate square in the primary, that dot can be brought to perfect center of the left liberal diamond, Major graphic artists have already been chosen and hired for staff.

Join the movement, believe in the graphic

[cascadiance]

30. She'll try to say she doesn't support outsourcing the TPP supports but she DOES support "insourcing"

... when she has been on the record for supporting H-1B quota expansion...

[antigop]

32. HRC has said, "Outsourcing will continue..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/07/AR2007090702780.html

When Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton flew to New Delhi to meet with Indian business leaders in 2005, she offered a blunt assessment of the loss of American jobs across the Pacific. "There is no way to legislate against reality," she declared. "Outsourcing will continue. . . . We are not against all outsourcing; we are not in favor of putting up fences."

The Clinton camp STILL doesn't get it that this was one of many reasons she lost in 2008. It ticked off a lot of people.

[antigop]

35. also, the biggest users of h-1b visas are OUTSOURCING COMPANIES

Who's Hiring H-1B Visa Workers? It's Not Who You Might Think
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/04/03/176134694/Whos-Hiring-H1-B-Visa-Workers-Its-Not-Who-You-Might-Think

The tech industry wants more skilled workers — from overseas. Companies are lobbying hard for Congress to raise the limit on H-1B visas — visas for people with specialized skills — researchers, for instance, or software engineers.

Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, recently told NPR that more H-1B visas can't help but be good for the country.

"We need to continue to attract some of the best and brightest people in the world to come and join us in world-leading [research and development] efforts," Smith said.

But that "best-and-brightest" argument doesn't quite match up with reality — especially when you look at which companies are using the most H-1Bs.

Who Is Using the Visas?

If you scroll through the government's visa data, you notice something surprising. The biggest employer of foreign tech workers is not Microsoft — not by a long shot. Nor is it Google, Facebook or any other name-brand tech company. The biggest users of H-1Bs are consulting companies, or as Ron Hira calls them, "offshore-outsourcing firms."

[cascadiance]

37. The slang term for these companies for decades has been "body shops"...

Wikipedia's history on them...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_shopping

NBC had investigated this indentured servant practice earlier...

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Silicon-Valleys-Body-Shop-Secret-280567322.html

The gentleman interviewed here shows how it is Indian workers that also resent this kind of exploitation as well, and which is why

H-!B SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN!!!!!

... NOT expanded that apparently Hillary Clinton wants to happen likely to satisfy other wealth donors the way she does on so many other issues.

I personally witnessed a "guesthouse" defined here which happened when my neighbor moved out of a 900 SQ foot apartment across the hall from me, not long before I left that place as well, when rents were being jacked up heavily during the dotcom meltdown.

They all arbitrarily got kicked out suddenly when the one guy that hired them wanted to take over that apartment for himself.

[antigop]

38. wow -- even Fox News reports on bipartisan investigation

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/10/senators-seek-probe-claims-thousands-us-workers-fired-forced-to-train-foreign/

A popular visa program allegedly is being misused by U.S. companies to lay off thousands of American workers and replace them with foreign labor.

And, adding insult to injury, many of the laid-off workers allegedly have been forced to train their replacements, in what one anonymous whistleblower called a “humiliating” experience.

The allegations have caught the attention of a bipartisan group of senators -- including immigration hawk Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and the No. 2 Senate Democrat, Illinois’ Dick Durbin -- who are calling for a federal probe. A letter sent by 10 senators urging an investigation specifically cited reports of the firing and hiring practices at Southern California Edison, California's second-largest utility. The incidents are concentrated in the IT field, and involve American workers being replaced by H-1B visa holders.

“A number of U.S. employers, including some large, well-known, publicly-traded corporations, have reportedly laid off thousands of American workers and replaced them with H-1B visa holders,” the senators wrote.

[cascadiance]

39. Yep, the stance against corporatists and for a huge group of voters (MANY independents)...

... would be AGAINST H-1B expansion.

There are many independent and libertarian voters in the IT field, and many have been bitten by body shops. I think if the Democrats were to really do some hard work in fixing this problem instead of aiding and abetting it, they'd get a lot of votes from not just Democratic Party voters.

What really bugs me is that Schumer, Reid's replacement leading the Democrats in the Senate, has been the biggest "tool" of those passing H-1B expansion from the Democratic Party side over the years. Look at his voting record and how he has always been the "central figure" working with Republicans to hash out the details of these "giveaway" H-1B expansion deals that have hurt us so much over the years.

[antigop]

40. I agree with you 100%. I see a lot of Repubs in the IT field who are fed up with h-1b expansion.

The Dems are missing a huge opportunity among those who have been burned (or know someone who has been burned) by h-1b visa expansions.

Also L1's.

eta: And the Clinton camp STILL does not realize how much they ticked off IT/engineers in the 2008 campaign.

[cascadiance]

41. And those still questioning our stances should look at the H-2B visa abuses after Katrina...

There was some real horrible abuse there, that not only screwed many foreign nationals coming here to help rebuild the south then, but that effort really should have been looking to hire American employees down there that sorely needed jobs, etc. to rebuild their lives and could be something they could have put pride in to in rebuilding what they'd lost then.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/198665/these-workers-came-overseas-help-rebuild-after-hurricane-katrina-and-were-treated-prison

[antigop]

42. don't you wonder what Hillary supporters do for a living?

What, exactly, do they do that they don't care about outsourcing or h-1b replacements?

What do their families do?

I guess you know the answer to that.

[appalachiablue]

43. What do they do, probably follow investments some, glance at a statement once a month-

[Smithryee]

45. As an IT worker, I despise H1-B's with a passion

I get job opportunities from out of state, with impossibily long requirements.

Those are from body shops for H1-B's. I want to get them for spamming me unceasingly and I plan to make an example out of them this summer.

Starting with small claims court... (I did issue a warning to the CEO last year that was ignored for each spam that they send me will cost them $500) - I plan to make a claim the maximum allowable by Smalls Claim Court. I think that is $2,500 - twice a year.

[appalachiablue]

44. I suppose since Dems. are part of the H1-B problem, like the Banks (Glass Steagall) they can't

really talk about the issue? They'd have to stop H1-B expansion immediately, and there's ongoing buy-partisan work now. How corrupt-

[appalachiablue]

46. Since Hillary selected Sunday to announce, the very time the TPP is hoped to be passed by

corporate interests- I think Monday is a perfect time for her to speak about the TPP.

KEEP THIS KICKED!

[antigop]

8. on Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/warren-clinton-where-she-stands-trade-deal-200022646.html

[Faryn Balyncd]

9. K and R

[appalachiablue]

47. Keep Kicking. Will Hillary speak about the TPP Monday since she chose to announce the week it's

planned to pass, unless enough people sign the MoveOn/Bernie petition or call their Senators offices in DC.

[nationalize the fed]

10. These don't count?

What did Hillary Rodham Clinton say about NAFTA during the Democratic Debates?

Skip to 4:04

"Nafta did not do what many had hoped"

[antigop]

11. thanks. I was looking for those. nt

[delrem]

12. Nope!

Nope nope nope!

Nothing counts except what politicians *say* that counts, when campaigning for votes!

People have no memory and that's a good thing.
In fact, I've forgotten those vids already.
I've forgotten the wars already.

Next question??

[Bluenorthwest]

36. I remember how Hillary Clinton voted in the Senate on the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

I assume her critics have forgotten that as they never, ever bring it up and it seems like it should be a key point in examining her views on trade agreements. Short memories in service to narratives.

[delrem]

22. In that last clip, (will be) Pres Obama is very impressive.

He's a great president.

[RobertEarl]

13. That Warren Lady

What a trouble maker!! Whatever can we do about her?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

16. Draft her?

[RobertEarl]

27. It could happen

If she refuses to run, we can make her run.

This could become very interesting?

[JI7]

18. while she does it wont make much difference in the support she gets

i don't think there is anyone who thinks she is opposed to free trade

[delrem]

19. I think everybody supports "free trade".

But issues become complex in international market places, and "fair trade" enters the picture.

Almost nothing is heard about "fair trade",

and furthermore the whole TPP thing is top secret, so people can't even say that they know. Shut out of the process.

Something is fucked up, about that.

[sabrina 1]

20. Free trade for whom? What do the Working Class get out of all these 'free trade giveaways' that

are in this secret deal with Foreign Corporations who will have the ability to make the WORKING CLASS pay them when they sue because our Environmental laws prevent them from dumping their garbage in our rivers and lakes?

I wouldn't mind some of that 'free trade' but there isn't a hope in hell the Working Class will get anything but the BILLS for this abomination of a 'deal with the devil'.

Bad enough our own Corporations are controlling everything here, now we'll have thousands of Foreign Corporations joining them.

She needs to say where she stands on this. And why she's taking so long, is telling in itself.

'Silence means consent'.

[delrem]

21. YES! he said, YES! YES! YES!

[Scuba]

23. + another

[Enthusiast]

24. +1!

[antigop]

25. she can't say anything because she was a part of it. Warren knows this. That's the beauty of it.

Warren knows Hillary can't really say anything more on it.

If HRC comes out against it, she ticks off her Wall Street donors.

If HRC says she's in favor of it, she ticks off the unions and a lot of Dems.

Smart woman, that Elizabeth Warren.

[sabrina 1]

29. Yes, Warren is very smart. And she's RIGHT. Clinton needs to let the public know, since she's

asking for their support, where she stands on many issues, particularly this one which is a direct attack on the very people she is hoping will support her.

[antigop]

31. sabrina, I think you missed my point.

Warren boxed Hillary in.

Warren KNOWS Hillary's part in the TPP as SOS.

Warren KNOWS Hillary can't come out against the TPP because she doesn't want to tick off her Wall Street, corporate donors.

Warren KNOWS Hillary can't come out in favor of the TPP because HRC doesn't want to tick off the unions and lots of Dems.

Warren has boxed her in.

Brilliant, brilliant, move.

[sabrina 1]

33. I agree, I did get your point, but didn't express myself very well. And yes, Warren has

boxed her in. But this week, we just learned, Congress is going to vote on fast tracking the TPP.

I am guessing that since so many people are deeply concerned about this 'agreement', Hillary will hedge the question by claiming 'I am waiting to see what is in it' and her supporters will, ARE, already saying that.

Which makes them and her, lose so much credibility, because now we DO know SOME of what is in it, and even WORSE than we thought.

I'm sure her handlers have been working hard to try to find a way NOT to let her alienate the voters and/or Wall St, but it's a very tricky situation which is probably why she has not addressed it yet.

My guess is some kind of mealy mouthed 'I don't know what is in it, I hope to be able to comment on the actual content as soon as I see it'.

That should be followed by handing her a few of the leaked Documents and asking her to comment on that part at least.

No candidate, I don't care who it is, should be allowed to avoid answering such important questions directly and clearly.

IF she supports it, which I know she does, and Warren knows she does, then she should just say so and stop trying to find ways to avoid admitting her support.

[antigop]

34. ok. I agree with you...I think that if HRC responds at all it will be along the lines of what you

posted: 'I don't know what is in it, I hope to be able to comment on the actual content as soon as I see it'.

It won't be FOR or AGAINST, as you indicated.

I think you are correct.

HRC needs to be held accountable for her part in negotiating the TPP.

[L0oniX]

48. You don't need to consult Miss Cleo to know where that compass is going to point..