"The TPP is not about free trade. It's a corporate coup d'etat--against us!"

[cadaverdog]

I have been pretty much a "lurker" here, just dropping the occasional quip from time to time, pretty much avoiding the real heat of battle. But, I have also been following the goings-on surrounding the TPP, and I now consider the TPP to be a "clear and present danger" to this Country. Hopefully I can offer some clarity as to why I feel so. To that end I present selections from three pieces I consider to be most helpful in forming an opinion regarding the TPP. I encourage you follow the links to the full articles--your time won't be wasted. All bolds are mine.

From Alternet, Jun 29, 2012

Trans-Pacific Partnership: Under Cover of Darkness, a Corporate Coup is Underway

With the direct participation of 600 corporations and shocking levels of secrecy, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is rushing to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Branded as a trade agreement (yawn) by its corporate proponents, TPP largely has evaded public and congressional scrutiny since negotiations were launched in 2008 by the George W. Bush administration.

But trade is the least of it. Only two of TPP’s 26 chapters actually have to do with trade. The rest is about new enforceable corporate rights and privileges and constraints on government regulation. This includes new extensions of price-raising drug patent monopolies, corporate rights to attack government drug formulary pricing plans, safeguards to facilitate job offshoring and new corporate controls over natural resources.

more at: http://www.alternet.org/story/156059/trans-pacific_partnership%3A_under_cover_of_darkness,_a_corporate_coup_is_underway

If you read only one of these articles in it's entirety, make it the following. I like to think of it as a "Dummies Guide to the TPP"

From the Aug, 2013 edition of the Hightower Lowdown, by Jim Hightower:

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is not about free trade. It's a corporate coup d'etat--against us!

The other two dozen chapters amount to a devilish "partnership" for corporate protectionism. They create sweeping new "rights" and escape hatches to protect multinational corporations from accountability to our governments... and to us. Here are a few of TPP's provisos that would make our daily lives riskier, poorer, and less free:

Food safety. Any of our government's food safety regulations (on pesticide levels, bacterial contamination, fecal exposure, toxic additives, GMOs, non-edible fillers, etc.) that are stricter than "international standards," as most are, could be ruled as "illegal trade barriers." Then our government would have to revise our consumer protections to comply with the weaker global standards. Also, our government could no longer ban meat imports that don't meet our safe-to-eat laws, as long as the exporting nation simply claims that its inspection system is "equivalent" to ours. In addition, food labeling laws we rely on (organic, country-of-origin, animal-welfare approved, GMO-free, etc.) would also be subject to challenge as trade barriers.

more at: http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3402#.VKnRVCi6zCM

Which brings us up to just a few days ago, Dec. 30, 2014. From the NYTimes:

Obama's Trade Chief, Undaunted by Odds, Pushes for Trans-Pacific Partnership

A California-born lawyer who has known Mr. Obama since they were classmates at Harvard Law School, Mr.(Michael) Froman, 52, exudes a genial charm. But it masks a relentless drive that propelled him from senior posts in the Clinton administration to a career at Citigroup, where he earned millions of dollars before resigning to join the Obama administration. (snip)

As the negotiations for T.P.P. have dragged on, missing multiple deadlines, Mr. Froman has expressed unwavering confidence in the outcome, saying the various parties are searching for “landing zones” on issues ranging from Japanese farm subsidies to Vietnamese labor regulations.(snip)

“Mike Froman, he’s wonderful,” said Representative Dave Reichert, Republican of Washington, who has formed the Friends of T.P.P. with a small, bipartisan and regionally diverse group of four representatives.

(I wonder if Congressman "Sandy" Levin is one of the four?)

more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/31/business/obamas-trade-chief-undaunted-by-odds-pushes-for-trans-pacific-partnership.html?_r=0

Finally, this is how I see it; if the 600 corporate participants can agree on the substance of the treaty, and if the President is granted "fast track" authorization," the treaty will be presented to him for his signature, after which the Congress will go through the motions (maybe Alan Grayson's famous 88 seconds)and a straight up or down vote, and Wham! it's a done deal. No open debate, no amendments, no filibuster, and no expiration date! No future President can overturn this piece of treaty.(this restriction is from multiple sources) "But the Republicans are just as likely to deny Obama fast track, because they hate him!" Yeah, when was the last time you saw Republicans reject something big business really wanted? And McConnell supports the TPP.

It's going to be very ugly if this goes through. Please, at the very least write or phone your members of congress urging them to stop this corporate takeover of United States.