Emails Show TPP 'Collusion' Between Big Banks & Obama Administration

[Octafish]

Gee. Seems everybody's got problems with transparency these days. I wonder why?

Emails Show TPP 'Collusion' Between Big Banks & Obama Administration

Emails obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show U.S. Trade Rep. Michael Froman discussing TPP with Goldman Sachs lobbyists

byNadia Prupis, staff writer
CommonDreams, May 27, 2016

A series of emails released Friday show what activists describe as "collusion" between U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Wall Street executives to push for the passage the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The emails (pdf), obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the group Rootstrikers, which organizes against money in politics, include a message to Froman from a managing director at Goldman Sachs urging him to push for "robust commitments" on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions—which allow private corporations to sue governments for perceived loss of profits—to be included in the divisive trade deal.

"I wanted to underscore how important it is for the financial services industry to get robust commitments on ISDS in the agreement... denying our industry the same rights as enjoyed by every other sector would be terribly unfortunate," the email states.

Another mentions it would be "good for the U.S." if lawmakers in U.S. Congress passed Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as "fast track," which would allow the president to send trade deals to the House and Senate for a yes-or-no vote, rather than allowing them to make amendments to the agreements.

"Will do what I can to assist," reads the email from the Goldman Sachs lobbyist, sent in February 2015—just a few months before the Senate passed TPA in what opponents called a "great day for corporate America."

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/27/emails-show-tpp-collusion-between-big-banks-obama-administration

Perhaps this is why President Obama called critics of his TPP deal "conspiracy theorists." It smears critics of TPP and it throws everybody else off the trail.

[bjo59]

1. Obama's "behind the scenes" work on the TPP has been reported on for a very, very long time.

The "leaks" began over a year ago (it feel like close to two years). I'm surprised that he didn't get the ball rolling on this earlier in order to ensure that he'd still be in office to ratify it.

[Octafish]

2. The influence of Goldman Sachs on TPP hasn't gotten all that much press.

"If the TPP would be as good for American jobs as they claim, there should be nothing to hide."

Lawmakers Say TPP Meetings Classified To Keep Americans in the Dark

Democratic lawmaker says tightly-controlled briefings on Trans-Pacific Partnership deal are aimed at keeping US constituents ignorant about what's at stake

byJon Queally, staff writer
byCommon Dreams, March 17, 2015

Lawmakers in Congress who remain wary of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement are raising further objections this week to the degree of secrecy surrounding briefings on the deal, with some arguing that the main reason at least one meeting has been registered "classified" is to help keep the American public ignorant about giveaways to corporate interests and its long-term implications.

With a briefing set between members of Congress and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and the Labor Department for Wednesday, the lack of transparency and the inability to discuss openly what they learn in the meetings has especially drawn the ire of progressive Democrats who say the TPP is being jammed through without a full airing of its negative consequences.

As The Hill reports:

Members will be allowed to attend the briefing on the proposed trade pact with 12 Latin American and Asian countries with one staff member who possesses an “active Secret-level or high clearance” compliant with House security rules. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told The Hill that the administration is being "needlessly secretive."

"Even now, when they are finally beginning to share details of the proposed deal with members of Congress, they are denying us the ability to consult with our staff or discuss details of the agreement with experts," DeLauro told The Hill.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) condemned the classified briefing.

"Making it classified further ensures that, even if we accidentally learn something, we cannot share it. What is [Froman]working so hard to hide? What is the specific legal basis for all this senseless secrecy?" Doggett said to The Hill.

"Open trade should begin with open access," Doggett said. "Members expected to vote on trade deals should be able to read the unredacted negotiating text."

"I'm not happy about it," Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) told the Huffington Post, referring to the briefing with Froman and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez on Wednesday. The meeting—focused on the section of the TPP that deals with the controversial 'Investor-State Dispute Settlement' (ISDS) mechanism—has been labeled "classified," so that lawmakers and any of their staff who attend will be barred, under threat of punishment, of revealing what they learn with constituents or outside experts.

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/03/17/lawmakers-say-tpp-meetings-classified-keep-americans-dark

Nothing gets put in the pockets of 99-percent of us when TPP's all said and done hasn't got much press, either, come to think of it.

[KoKo]

50. Recommend....

[SCantiGOP]

59. Trash...

Everything you post seems to be critical of Obama or Clinton.
Any reason for that?

[Octafish]

60. Any reason you trash DUers?

Instead of commenting on the post content?

[SCantiGOP]

68. The post I responded to said "Recommend"

So I noted that I was Trashing the thread.

But you knew that anyway, I'm sure.

[Octafish]

70. I'll tell you what I do know: People who trash DUers can't find something wrong with what they post.

So, what is wrong with the OP or the thread that you have to trash it?

[Fantastic Anarchist]

65. Because they do things that deserve criticism.

[felix_numinous]

3. That some people are so anxious to give away

what is left of our national sovereignty, and personal liberties to these international entities has to ring some alarm bells. The country is getting sold out from under us, lands, food, medicines, water.

Like the knee jerk manufactured consent for the pre written Patriot Act--there is NO WAY Americans are able to consent to the TTIP since we are not being allowed to read the whole thing.

[Octafish]

6. We the People need to fire the secret government.

I believe it was the great DUer Scuba who wrote:

[font size="5"][font color="green"](Secret) Government of (some of) the People, by (some of) the People, and for (some of) the People.[/font color][/font size]

The "some of's" are classified, of course.

CIA moonlights in corporate world

By EAMON JAVERS
Politico, 02/01/10

In the midst of two wars and the fight against Al Qaeda, the CIA is offering operatives a chance to peddle their expertise to private companies on the side — a policy that gives financial firms and hedge funds access to the nation’s top-level intelligence talent, POLITICO has learned.

In one case, these active-duty officers moonlighted at a hedge-fund consulting firm that wanted to tap their expertise in “deception detection,” the highly specialized art of telling when executives may be lying based on clues in a conversation.

The never-before-revealed policy comes to light as the CIA and other intelligence agencies are once again under fire for failing to “connect the dots,” this time in the Christmas Day bombing plot on Northwest Flight 253.

SNIP...

But the close ties between active-duty and retired CIA officers at one consulting company show the degree to which CIA-style intelligence gathering techniques have been employed by hedge funds and financial institutions in the global economy.

The firm is called Business Intelligence Advisors, and it is based in Boston. BIA was founded and is staffed by a number of retired CIA officers, and it specializes in the arcane field of “deception detection.” BIA’s clients have included Goldman Sachs and the enormous hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, according to spokesmen for both firms.

CONTINUED...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32290.html#ixzz0eIFPhHBh

Wealthiest times in human history and we have to live in AUSTERITY? And the Banksters who looted trillions get billions in bonuses?

Something ain't right someplace.

[LongTomH]

10. Wealthiest times in human history, and they're prescribing austerity for commoners,

bailouts for banksters and at least a trillion to 'modernize' our nuclear arsenal!!!!

[Octafish]

13. And the rich get beyond rich.

From 2011:

Who Benefits From Austerity Politics?

by Rob Urie
CounterPunch, NOVEMBER 18, 2011

With so called “technocrats” being installed in Italy and Greece to lead governments through austerity programs, the discussion of who benefits from these programs and who pays remains largely in the background. When benefits are discussed they are usually couched in terms of systemic benefits under the guise that if the “system” benefits then everyone benefits. But the austerity programs being implemented straightforwardly benefit the large banks to the detriment of the citizens of these countries.

The banks see two benefits from austerity policies: the use of state power to enforce their claims that debts be repaid and they see asset prices driven down. The first goal is intuitive enough and it well explains why even in the U.S. government policies have been designed to facilitate debt repayment rather than to dismiss debts outright. No matter how malodorous the terms under which bankers lent the money, as long as borrowers can be forced to repay it, the banks benefit. And with sovereign debt, the “borrowers” being forced to repay the debt tend to be ordinary citizens who had little to do with incurring it and who just as likely saw no benefit from it.

The second benefit to bankers is less intuitive but more insidious. After all, why would banks want to see the value of the assets that are the collateral for the loans that they’ve made fall? The reason why is that the assets that the banks own are the loans that they’ve made and not the underlying collateral. As long as borrowers are forced to repay these loans the payments that the banks receive become worth more as collateral values fall because the money received will then buy more. Expand this idea to state assets in Greece and Italy and the banks can own water systems and roads from which they can extract fat incomes in perpetuity.

CONTINUITY...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/18/who-benefits-from-austerity-politics/

Explains what's happening to Puerto Rico and Detroit and a lot of other places filled with, uh, "Democrats."

[socialist_n_TN]

51. Ironically, I just watched "The Big Short" last night.........

The banks got bailed out and we got sold out.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

66. Socialism for the wealthy, and not the rest of us. nt

[felix_numinous]

14. I agree--this bunker mentality has created more problems than it solved

I am sure there is stuff that needs protecting, but operating without oversight is a recipe for and defines the abuse of power. I don't know how the alphabet agencies could begin to be detangled, but for now their weight and complexity has become a liability in function.

One senses that it is not merely a change in mission that is most intimidating to these agencies, it is the possibility that their crimes would be uncovered and they would be held accountable for them.

The country needs to shift our mission from being a police state back to putting people to work in this country, rebuilding our infrastructure and not bombs and invading other countries for resources.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

27. Keepin' us doped with religion and sex and tv...

or something like that, otherwise those bankers would learning first hand what the French Revolution was all about.

[greiner3]

40. Don't forget the iPhone and those text messages.

Lose that and it would be a second revolution. Hell, that last word may have this post flagged by the complex in Las Vegas.

[GoneFishin]

33. "CIA moonlights in corporate world". The real reason for warrantless wire taps and email snooping.

The story that warrantless surveillance was for crime fighting purposes never passed the smell test. The likelyhood that people are illicitly profiting from inside knowledge not related to any official investigation fits perfectly.

They found multiple ways to cash in on information they aren't entitled to have. Narrow targeted search warrants would work fine for bonafide investigations. But shaking the whole tree and hoping something juicy falls out of it is much more profitable.

[libdem4life]

71. Mark Mezvinsky was hedge manager that bet

on Greek austeriy. May fit in here somewhere as he is Clinton's son in law.

[nationalize the fed]

37. +1776

Only Kooks, Wackjobs and Nutcases talk about a New World Order

"The Proper and Just Relpy to 1984 is 1776"

[Dont call me Shirley]

61. Rec, Rec, Reccety, Rec, Rec, Rec!

[Arizona Roadrunner]

4. TPP’s ISDS is a give-away of governmental sovereignty.

As a person who has served on a local government’s Board of Directors, I am VERY concerned about the TPP ISDS court process with results being the surrendering of governmental sovereignty to corporate interests, foreign and domestic.
Basically due to secretive deliberations, this “judicial” process is designed to favor corporate over governmental concerns and interests. This agreement should not allow corporations to use this judicial process, but should demand they use our existing judicial process as it relates to governmental entities. How many state and local governments can afford to be involved in such a process? Just by the threat of suits through ISDS, a climate where governmental units cave in will be created. Look at what has happened under NAFTA and the WTO as it relates to our right to know where our food comes from. Look at how a Canadian corporation is using NAFTA to sue the U.S. on the Keystone project.
This will mean that by said threat political topics such as minimum wage increases and housing and zoning laws may be pre-empted by just the threat of a suit through the ISDS process. Look at what happened with Egypt when a corporation tried to use a process analogous to the ISDS to prevent Egypt from raising their minimum wage laws. (Veolia v. Egypt)
Therefore, I recommend, in the national interest, this agreement not be approved. When people find out how this can be used to prevent them from finding out things such as where products are made, etc., there will be charges of treason and the political process will never recover the trust of the American citizens.

[Octafish]

9. Explains Robert Froman's dual citizenship: Wall Street and Washington.

Your excellent points of TPP's impacts are real. Froman's former (and concurrent) employer CitiGroup wants to make certain that he remembers who has almost ALL the money.

Michael Froman and the revolving door

By Felix Salmon December 11, 2009

Michael Froman is one of those behind-the-scenes technocrats who never quite makes it into full public view. But according to Matt Taibbi, he’s one of the most egregious examples — up there with Bob Rubin, literally — we’ve yet seen of the way the revolving door works between business and government generally, and between Citigroup and Treasury in particular.

I’m not sure how much of this information is new, but a lot of it was new to me, especially the bit about Froman “leading the search for the president’s new economic team” — while he was still pulling down a multi-million-dollar salary at Citigroup, no less. Apologies for quoting at length:

Leading the search for the president’s new economic team was his close friend and Harvard Law classmate Michael Froman, a high-ranking executive at Citigroup. During the campaign, Froman had emerged as one of Obama’s biggest fundraisers, bundling $200,000 in contributions and introducing the candidate to a host of heavy hitters — chief among them his mentor Bob Rubin, the former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs who served as Treasury secretary under Bill Clinton. Froman had served as chief of staff to Rubin at Treasury, and had followed his boss when Rubin left the Clinton administration to serve as a senior counselor to Citigroup (a massive new financial conglomerate created by deregulatory moves pushed through by Rubin himself).

Incredibly, Froman did not resign from the bank when he went to work for Obama: He remained in the employ of Citigroup for two more months, even as he helped appoint the very people who would shape the future of his own firm. And to help him pick Obama’s economic team, Froman brought in none other than Jamie Rubin, a former Clinton diplomat who happens to be Bob Rubin’s son. At the time, Jamie’s dad was still earning roughly $15 million a year working for Citigroup, which was in the midst of a collapse brought on in part because Rubin had pushed the bank to invest heavily in mortgage-backed CDOs and other risky instruments…

On November 23rd, 2008, a deal is announced in which the government will bail out Rubin’s messes at Citigroup with a massive buffet of taxpayer-funded cash and guarantees… No Citi executives are replaced, and few restrictions are placed on their compensation. It’s the sweetheart deal of the century, putting generations of working-stiff taxpayers on the hook to pay off Bob Rubin’s fuck-up-rich tenure at Citi. “If you had any doubts at all about the primacy of Wall Street over Main Street,” former labor secretary Robert Reich declares when the bailout is announced, “your doubts should be laid to rest.”

It is bad enough that one of Bob Rubin’s former protégés from the Clinton years, the New York Fed chief Geithner, is intimately involved in the negotiations, which unsurprisingly leave the Federal Reserve massively exposed to future Citi losses. But the real stunner comes only hours after the bailout deal is struck, when the Obama transition team makes a cheerful announcement: Timothy Geithner is going to be Barack Obama’s Treasury secretary!

Geithner, in other words, is hired to head the U.S. Treasury by an executive from Citigroup — Michael Froman — before the ink is even dry on a massive government giveaway to Citigroup that Geithner himself was instrumental in delivering. In the annals of brazen political swindles, this one has to go in the all-time Fuck-the-Optics Hall of Fame.

Wall Street loved the Citi bailout and the Geithner nomination so much that the Dow immediately posted its biggest two-day jump since 1987, rising 11.8 percent. Citi shares jumped 58 percent in a single day, and JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley soared more than 20 percent, as Wall Street embraced the news that the government’s bailout generosity would not die with George W. Bush and Hank Paulson.

How much influence did Froman have over the appointment of Geithner as Treasury secretary? Geithner, who wanted to become Treasury secretary and who as New York Fed president was a central (if not the central) figure in orchestrating the massive Citigroup bailout just after the election, knew what Froman’s job was in the Obama transition team, and knew that Froman was a senior executive at Citigroup.

CONTINUED...

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/12/11/michael-froman-and-the-revolving-door/

The loss of sovereignty is part of the longterm game. Check out what Larry Summer had to say:

Larry Summers
and the Secret "End-Game" Memo

Thursday, August 22, 2013
By Greg Palast for Vice Magazine

EXCERPT...

The year was 1997. US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin was pushing hard to de-regulate banks. That required, first, repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act to dismantle the barrier between commercial banks and investment banks. It was like replacing bank vaults with roulette wheels.

Second, the banks wanted the right to play a new high-risk game: "derivatives trading." JP Morgan alone would soon carry $88 trillion of these pseudo-securities on its books as "assets."

Deputy Treasury Secretary Summers (soon to replace Rubin as Secretary) body-blocked any attempt to control derivatives.

But what was the use of turning US banks into derivatives casinos if money would flee to nations with safer banking laws?

[font color="green"]The answer conceived by the Big Bank Five: eliminate controls on banks in every nation on the planet – in one single move. It was as brilliant as it was insanely dangerous. [/font color]

CONTINUED...

http://www.gregpalast.com/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo/

We're getting hosed as a nation and planet. But, hey! NETFLIX is wicked awesome!

[Akamai]

30. K and R!!! You bet! And the kitty youtubes is most awfully kewt! (Don't look at the man

behind the curtain!)

Go Bernie!!!!

[jwirr]

11. The bushes wanted to build a one world government so we

need to get rid of nations. It is as simple as that and anyone who wants to support the corporatists are a very big part of this. We had better think hard before we nominate a corporatists to any office let alone president.

[roguevalley]

5. look at those two babies. that will

Obama ' s legacy with this. He must be so proud.

[Octafish]

19. Detroit, Flint, Puerto Rico...

He put the banks and powerful first, too. Seems more and more they're the same people.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/03/08/detr-m08.html?view=article_mobile

[Poincare]

7. Interesting

Seems that the corporations can have the right to be treated as a person, and they are getting the right to a profit, but real natural people can't get a right to a meal, or a home, or an education. Boggles the mind to wonder how voters can be so gullible.

[ReRe]

23. You're on the right track...

... keep going. Welcome to the rock n' roll country of DemocraticUnderground. You'll learn a lot on this site if you will just read, read, read and jump in when you have a comment or question.

[think]

8. 'Goldman Sachs urging him to push for "robust commitments" on Investor-State Dispute Settlement'

What could go wrong....

[Octafish]

63. Legalese for 'Extortion Racket.' Washington runs protection.

Like the Mafia, Wall Street mastered the System. Imagine when Larry Summers dreams come true?



"It’s complicated, and we’re going to make sure whatever we do is done in a deliberative fashion." -- George W Bush, Oct. 3, 2008

Washington's Blog provides details n links:

The Government Lied When It Said It Only Bailed Out Healthy Banks … 12 of the 13 Big Banks Were Going Bust

Posted on January 11, 2013 by WashingtonsBlog

The Government’s Entire Strategy Was to Cover Up the Truth

We noted in 2011 that the Geithner, Bernanke and Paulson lied about the health of the big banks in pitching bailouts to Congress and the American people:

The big banks were all insolvent during the 1980s.

And they all became insolvent again in 2008. See this and this (busted link at WB).

The bailouts were certainly rammed down our throats under false pretenses.

But here’s the more important point. Paulson and Bernanke falsely stated that the big banks receiving Tarp money were healthy, when they were not. They were insolvent.

Tim Geithner falsely stated that the banks passed some time of an objective stress test but they did not. They were insolvent.

CONTINUED...

Who knows? Perhaps some of this information will finally make it into my local noosepaper. For some reason, it hasn't been on the television screen.

[oldandhappy]

12. do not doubt it

I keep writing DNC -- no TPP, no TTIP, no fracking

[Octafish]

92. A List of Goldman Sachs Ties to the Obama Government–including Elena Kagan

Join me and say, “I do not condone this, I do not consent.”

Under the Obama Administration, in 2009 alone, Goldman Sachs took more than $20 billion in taxpayer cash through bailouts, payments and backstops; and then turned around and paid out $16.2 B as 2009 bonuses, plus an additional $5 B more in bonuses in 2010 (Without Obama Administration’s “help” Goldman’s bonuses would have been zip, zero, ziltch.)

CONTINUED w/links etc:

https://prof77.wordpress.com/politics/an-updated-list-of-goldman-sachs-ties-to-the-obama-government-including-elena-kagan/

Plutocrats v. Oligarchs

[stupidicus]

15. hehe2 -- that's one of many reasons I'll miss him so

not

[jalan48]

16. But, but, he's very photogenic and funny!

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. I'm not laughing. . Thanks Obama.

[Ferd Berfel]

17. I hope this one is Filed under: NO SHIT SHERLOCK!

It's good to have confirmation of the treachery of this evil cabal but,

If you didn't know this by now you are a fucking idiot or you are part of the fucking cabal.

TPP negates anything and everything else that Obama has 'accomplished'. It is the complete and utter selling out of this country and it's 99%.

TPP is Obama making his bones with the fascist oligarchy for his life after the White house.

ANd lets not forget that CLinton wants to be Obama's THIRD TERM. America, as will knkow it, will not survive a third Obama term.

Too bad about the timing: Friday Dump



BTW - remember when Obama said publicly that he wanted and supported Single Payer - then we found out that he had made the deal with PHARMA, 6 MONTHS earlier for the republican invention ACA? He had been lying to us for 6 months about his support for Single Payer.

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. Played....

[polly7]

29. omg ...

I've always hated Obama's foreign policy wrt drones and other things, but thought he probably didn't have total control over that. To see this, regarding health-care for Americans, actually shocks me. Truly shocking.

[Ferd Berfel]

56. Let's not forget that CLinton wants to be Obama's THIRD term

can we survive another term of this shit?

[bvar22]

77. It looks more like Bill's 5th term to me.

*

[Ferd Berfel]

90. Point!

or since Reagan. Bothe Parties have been flogging Reagonomics ever since St Ronnie. Let's recall that Obam thinks Reagan is someone to model himself after

Wild Bill was the best Republican president since Eisenhower - Hillary wants to continue that.

In any case, it is the agenda of the Right wing Global Oligarchy and both Parties , so far, have been driving us over that cliff. Clinton simply wants to be 'pragmatic' about it and go slow. THe Republican want to do it faster.

But its the same direction either way. Only Bernie will try to change this.

[Octafish]

91. Is This Barack Obama's 2nd Term? Is it Bill Clinton's 3rd? Or Is It Ronald Reagan's 9th?

They say that elections do matter, and that there are real differences between Republican and Democratic presidents. But backing up the view to 30 years, that difference looks a lot more like continuity, both at home and in America's global empire.

By Bruce A. Dixon
Black Agenda Report managing editor

The answer is yes to all three. Ronald Reagan hasn't darkened the White House door in decades. But his policy objectives have been what every president, Democrat and Republican have pursued relentlessly ever since. Barack Obama is only the latest and most successful of Reagan's disciples.

SNIP...

In Barack Obama's case all he had to say was that he wasn't necessarily against wars, just against what he called “stupid wars.” Corporate media and “liberal” shills morphed that lone statement into a false narrative that Barack Obama opposed the war in Iraq, making him an instantly viable presidential candidate at a time when the American people overwhelmingly opposed that war. Once in office, Barack Obama strove mightily to abrogate the Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq which would have allowed US forces to remain there indefinitely. But when the Iraqi puppet government, faced with a near revolt on the part of what remained of Iraqi civil society, dared not do his bidding, insisting that uniformed US troops (but not the American and multinational mercenaries we pay to remain there) stick to the withdrawal timetable agreed upon under Bush, liberal shills and corporate media hailed the withdrawal from Iraq as Obama's “victory.”

Barack Obama doubled down on the invasion and occupation of large areas of Afghanistan, and increased the size of the army and marines, which in fact he pledged to do during his presidential campaign. Presidential candidate Obama promised to end secret imprisonment and torture. The best one can say about President Obama on this score is that he seems to prefer murderous and indiscriminate drone attacks, in many cases, over the Bush policy of international kidnapping secret imprisonment and torture. The Obama administration's reliance on drones combined with US penetration of the African continent, means that a Democratic, ostensibly “antiwar” president has been able to openly deploy US troops to every part of that continent in support of its drive to control the oil, water, and other resources there.

The objectives President Obama's Africa policies fulfill today were put down on paper by the Bush administration, pursued by Bill Clinton before that, and still earlier pursued by Ronald Reagan, when it funded murderous contra armies of UNITA in Angola and RENAMO in Mozambque. It was UNITA and RENAMO's campaigns, assisted by the apartheid regimes of Israel and South Africa that pioneered the genocidal use of child soldiers. Today, cruise missile liberals hail the Obama administration's use of pit bull puppet regimes like Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, all of which shot their way into power with child soldiers, to invade Somalia and Congo, sometimes ostensibly to go after other bad actors on the grounds that they are using child soldiers.

CONTINUED...

http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/barack-obamas-2nd-term-it-bill-clintons-3rd-or-it-ronald-reagans-9th

Wealthiest times in human history and We the People must settle for Austerity and STFU @ the Wars Without End.

[840high]

43. .....

[wallyworld2]

55. they fight hard for social issues

that don't cost a cent.

And make a big show about it in the news.

While at the same time, almost nonexistent coverage of any of the things in your post

That is unless it is to push for their support and passage

[whathehell]

73. Yup, been saying that for a long time..

"fighting hard for social issues that don't cost a thing".


They've been able to fool us for a long time with that.

[KoKo]

18. Recommend Read!

[zeemike]

20. Don't worry, someone will be along shortly to tell you

That you are a conspiracy theorist. It never fails.
It's the big trump card for everything.

You must listen and believe...just like a bot.

[merrily]

45. You don't have to! Two great threads, imo, about conspiracy theories.

The JPR OP is better than the DU OP, but the replies on both threads are what made the threads good.

http://jackpineradicals.org/showthread.php?1706-Conspiracy-theories-Give-Ockham-s-Razor*-a-rest-now-and-again-will-ya

http://www.democraticunderground.com/127710043

[zeemike]

48. You are right, they are both great threads.

And I had missed them both.
Thanks for the links.

[merrily]

86. You are most welcome. Just tell the

witting or unwitting tools of the CIA to fsck off.

[Elwood P Dowd]

21. The USTR and the Wall Street banking crooks are one and the same.

No difference under Obama.

[bbgrunt]

25. big Kick.

[mrr303am]

26. Too bad the people didn't listen to Bernie

Now we know why Goldman Sachs financed Obama's Presidential campaigns and paid Hillary & Bill so much for their marvelous speeches. Didn't Hillary say she wants to continue Obama's policies?

[greiner3]

41. Obama said he wanted his successor to have the same ideals as him

Well, Hillary is there with the thinking corporately and from what I've read, she's not too 'liberal' on the social side either. WTF?

[OnyxCollie]

42. Lieberman 2006: I Will Help Obama "Reach to the Stars"

Lieberman 2006: I Will Help Obama "Reach to the Stars"
http://crooksandliars.com/2008/08/31/lieberman-2006-i-will-help-obama-reach-to-the-stars

"As far as I'm concerned (Barack Obama) is a 'Baruch,' which means a blessing. He is a blessing to the United States Senate, to America, and to our shared hopes for better, safer tomorrows for all our families. The gifts that God has given to Barack Obama are as enormous as his future is unlimited. As his mentor, as his colleague, as his friend, I look forward to helping him reach to the stars and realize not just the dreams he has for himself, but the dreams we all have for him and our blessed country."

[Akamai]

28. Michael Froman has said that American wages should be lower than they are now

and to make the TPP a success.

This is a man without any heart at all for the people he is hurting.

I would not let him anywhere near the levers of power, but he is inextricably part of the TPP.

Go Bernie!!!!

[sulphurdunn]

31. Just another snake in a suit.

No offense intended toward real serpents.

[emsimon33]

32. Obama's legacy will be as devastating as Bill Clinton's

Whatever else Obama accomplished, his "trade" deals, just like Clinton's, will be devastating for 99% of Americans. I am always very surprised that so many people buy into the Clinton and Obama myths.

[MadDAsHell]

34. There's a "Thank you, Sir" thread currently worshipping him as the best President ever.

So which is it?

Frankly I care way more about a world-altering trade policy that he's trying to shove down our throats than his choice of Japan as a vacation spot.

[mudstump]

35. If the TTP passes the revolution is on!

[Enthusiast]

36. Kicked and recommended to the Max!

[Phlem]

38. Complete and utter Thirdway Policy.

It always comes back to this.

"But, but, but, they don't exist anymore!!!"

Bullshit.

They are well alive and kicking.

It's not a conspiracy.

It's the truth, the linear basic logic, that has been around for too long and strangled the Democratic Party.

Been saying it for too long.

[Scuba]

39. Obama's ultimate betrayal.

[840high]

44. .+1

[Gene Debs]

49. I much prefer those posts of pictures of Obama with his family where all the responses all

go "Beautiful!"

[socialist_n_TN]

52. Well, Classic Reds have been fighting this forever.......

We could always use more help though.

[wallyworld2]

53. $250k speeches and this

"Will do what I can to assist," reads the email from the Goldman Sachs lobbyist, sent in February 2015—just a few months before the Senate passed TPA in what opponents called a "great day for corporate America."


Hillary Clinton Won’t Say How Much Goldman Sachs CEO Invested With Her Son-in-Law

When Hillary Clinton’s son-in-law sought funding for his new hedge fund in 2011, he found financial backing from one of the biggest names on Wall Street: Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein.

The fund, called Eaglevale Partners, was founded by Chelsea Clinton’s husband, Marc Mezvinsky, and two of his partners. Blankfein not only personally invested in the fund, but allowed his association with it to be used in the fund’s marketing.

The investment did not turn out to be a savvy business decision. Earlier this month, Mezvinsky was forced to shutter one of the investment vehicles he launched under Eaglevale, called Eaglevale Hellenic Opportunity, after losing 90 percent of its money betting on the Greek recovery. The flagship Eaglevale fund has also lost money, according to the New York Times.
https://theintercept.com/2016/05/27/hillary-clinton-wont-say-how-much-goldman-sachs-ceo-invested-with-her-son-in-law/

[libdem4life]

74. He made a lot of money, however.

Thanks for the details.

But just $12 an hour, phased in ever so slowly for the unwashed masses/peasants.

[Hoyt]

54. Similarly, environmental groups, unions, etc., sent letters to Obama and Congress on TPP.

[Teamster Jeff]

80. And it's obvious that those e-mails end up in the trash

[Hoyt]

81. Actually,you are quite wrong. While you were whining about TPP, he slipped Paris Accord

in. Lesson for you, never take trade packs in isolation or without considering aspects not directly related to trade.

[Teamster Jeff]

82. Most of the TPP has nothing to do with trade

And plenty of people are "whining" about it.
So much so it will be a surprise if it ever passes

[Hoyt]

83. Most people can't see beyond the end of their street or next week.

[Teamster Jeff]

57. Thank goodness for laws requiring gov e-mail servers and the FOIA. Except for Hillary of course

[dorkzilla]

79. Because she's special! And a woman!

You misogynistic ape! Argle bargle first woman president! Vast right wing conspiracy! Progressive who gets things done!!! Argle bargle!!!

[malletgirl02]

84. It was the State Departments Fault!

Even though Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State. Those low level records and IT people should have demanded Secretary Clinton follow the rules! Sarcasm off. Really how many people are going to stand up to his or her boss on possible wrong doing and risk his or her job? Very few people are willing to risk their job and stand up to powerful people.

[dorkzilla]

89. Especially one so notoriously unpleasant

She's supposed to be very difficult and vulgar toward her staff. I mean no one can out-vulgar me, but I don't use language like that when I speak to my staff, and I sure as hell don't use off-color language when I am disciplining them. And even though I am not that way with my employees, they've confessed to being afraid to ask me something because they were afraid of making me angry (when I look at them quizzically they start laughing at themselves). My point is it's almost ALWAYS hard to even address someone with an issue who can fire you, and it's even harder to do so when that person famously has a hair-trigger temper.

I can imagine the terror this woman inspires.

[political marxist]

58. How anyone could be surprised

by this is beyond me, but the emails do give a fascinating insight into how government works to secure the "rights" of business interests at the expense of working people. Keep it secret and damn the consequences for the affected.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

62. Damn, Obama has been a huge disappointment.

Hope and change I can believe in.

[Phlem]

64. Verbal manipulation.

Perhaps this is why President Obama called critics of his TPP deal "conspiracy theorists." It smears critics of TPP and it throws everybody else off the trail.

This type of talk has been used forever but has recently been refined. Still very easy to see through for people with critical thinking skills.

This is why Hillary supporters drive me nuts. They eat this shit up. Her whole campaign has been this verbal method. It was the first time and is soooooooooo notched up this time.

[AzDar]

69. K & R

[billhicks76]

72. Conspiracy Theorist Smear

When people use it you know they are of afraid of something.

[rhett o rick]

75. Those that conspire will try to cover themselves by trying to denigrating anyone that

dares suspect them and they use "conspiracy theorist" as a pejorative. The Conservative Wing (Clinton) of our party don't like skepticism and use CT to try to disparage such.

[silvershadow]

76. Bookmarking. Thank you. nt

[bvar22]

78. More Information:

Korean Free Trade Deal devastating for US Workers
(Prototype for the TPP)

What happened to the 70,000 jobs that the Korea Free Trade deal was supposed to create? They never materialized. Instead, U.S. workers lost 40,000 jobs in the first year of the agreement.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-cohen/koreaus-free-trade-agreem_b_4965492.html

Meet the TPP: Crony capitalism on a global scale
https://represent.us/action/tpp/

Obama selects former Monsanto lobbyist to be his TPP chief agriculture negotiator
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023662210

"Obama Admin’s TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks"
http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/20/obama-admin%E2%80%99s-tpp-trade-officials-received-hefty-bonuses-from-big-banks/

Study: "Trade" Deal Would Mean a Pay Cut for 90% of U.S. Workers
http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2013/09/the-verdict-is-in-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-a-sweeping-free-trade-deal-under-negotiation-with-11-pacific-rim-coun.html

[Rex]

85. I don't know why anyone is surprised, he had no problems signing Citigroups

party bill they wrote for Congress.

[nolabels]

87. We should rename the WWW.internet the WWW.umbrella

Because at least it helps marginalize those whom would like to pee on the rest of us with the trickle on theory

In 2016 the two spoken words we use 'Banksters' and 'Crooks' have almost become synonymous

[burrowowl]

88. K&R!!!!!!

[Octafish]

93. Obama Administration Bars Release of Clinton's TPP Emails Until Post-Election

Response for FOIA request was 'abruptly' changed from spring 2016 to late November 2016

by Lauren McCauley, staff writer
Common Dreams, June 6, 2016

While Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has publicly reversed her position on the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), it remains unknown how much she helped advance, or even craft, the international trade deal while serving as U.S. Secretary of State—and the Obama administration appears interested in keeping it that way.

On Monday, International Business Times (IBT) senior editor David Sirota reported that the State Department is refusing to release correspondence between Clinton's State Department office and the United States Trade Representative related to the TPP until after the 2016 presidential election.

After initially saying that the requested materials would be made available in April, a U.S. State Department representative "abruptly" told Sirota last week, "Our office was recently informed that the search process has been completed and that the information located from that search is currently being prepared for the review process. The new estimated completion date for your request is November 31 (sic), 2016."

At the intersection of the 2016 presidential contest, Clinton's ongoing email scandal, and the contentious TPP negotiations, the contents of these emails are considered to be of public interest.

As Sirota notes, "IBT’s request was designed to provide a comprehensive view of how involved Clinton and her top aides were in shaping the trade agreement, and whether her agency had a hand in crafting any particular provisions in the pact."

CONTINUED w/links...

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/06/obama-administration-bars-release-clintons-tpp-emails-until-post-election