Okay, I know you're not dummies – but if a book is required to
break down Microsoft Word into simpler terms, then the Trans Pacific
Partnership (TPP) requires a library. The 2016 candidates both in local
races (for example, Paul Nehlen vs. Paul Ryan in Wisconsin) and our
presidential race are always talking about the horrors of TPP. But the
warnings fall on deaf ears because no one knows what TPP is. Why the
hysteria?
What exactly is TPP (Obamatrade)? TPP is a massive,
pro-corporate trade agreement among the United States and 11 other
countries. So what's wrong with that? Isn't this free trade?
Well, TPP is labeled a trade
agreement, but only a fifth actually deals with trade. Of TPP's 30
chapters, six deal with traditional trade issues.
That's one red flag. Another red flag is that TPP, like
Obamacare, was negotiated in secret – no peeking, no sharing, no access.
This is how our government replaced the greatest health care system in the
world with a shoddy third-world version that is destroying our economy: in
secret, away from the American people's prying eyes.
Another reason the government was able to push through Obamacare
was the sheer size of the bill: 2,700 pages. Congress didn't read it; no
one did. In fact, when Obamacare made it to the Supreme Court, the
government lawyer suggested that the justices go through the 2,700-page bill to
decide which parts were constitutional.
The late Justice Antonin Scalia asked, "What happened to the
Eighth Amendment?" (The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual
punishment.) "And do you really expect the Court to do that? Or do
you expect us to – to give this function to our law clerks? Is this not
totally unrealistic? That we are going to go through this enormous bill
item by item and decide each one?"
If our fearless leaders
couldn't get through 2,700 pages, they're not going to tackle the 6,000-page
TPP. So here we go again.
Or maybe we can stop it this time – block TPP. But first the
people have to understand the bill, at least in part. The simplest
explanation I've seen is a statement from Senator
Bernie Sanders's site. He breaks out TPP as follows:
This trade deal would make it easier for corporations to shut down
more factories in the U.S. and ship more jobs to Vietnam and Malaysia where
workers are paid pennies an hour. The TPP is a continuation of our
disastrous trade policies that have devastated manufacturing cities and towns
all over this country from Newton, Iowa, to Cleveland, Ohio. We need to
rebuild the disappearing middle class, not tear it down.
Donald Trump has been trying to make this point, but the details
are mind-numbing, and most don't understand the potential impact.
Bernie's words make it easy. Instead of paying Americans a living wage to
produce a product, the manufacturer will ship those jobs to countries where
labor is damn near free. Corporate profits up, Americans jobs gone,
donors taken care of.
The TPP would allow foreign corporations to sue federal, state and
local governments in an international tribunal for passing an increase in the
minimum wage or any other law that could hurt expected future profits.
You read it right: TPP lets the world sue our government.
With all the frivolous lawsuits in America, imagine extending that privilege to
an "international tribunal" and foreign corporations.
At a time when prescription drug prices are skyrocketing, the TPP
would make a bad situation even worse by granting new monopoly rights to big
pharmaceutical companies to deny access to lower cost generic drugs to millions
of people.
This means that your heart, cancer, diabetic or other necessary
medication that you're now getting for a fraction of the cost will skyrocket to
the full price of the name-brand drug. Most of us can't even imagine the
financial hit we will take on this little gem.
Finally, Bernie mentions some of the bad players in this agreement:
Outrageously, the proposed agreement includes violators of
international human rights, like Brunei, where gays and single mothers can be
stoned to death and Malaysia where tens of thousands of immigrant workers in
the electronics industry are working as modern day slaves.
Do Americans care about this? Well, from Hillary Clinton's
campaign, where she's taken millions (maybe billions) from countries with the
same horrifying human rights records, maybe not. But if we keep ignoring
these countries' abuses, if we strengthen their economies and make them a power
in today's world, it will eventually come to our shores. The massacre at
the Pulse nightclub in Orlando is just a preview of coming attractions.
So in summary:
- 1. TPP will have you
compete for jobs with countries paying pennies an hour for labor
- TPP will allow
foreign corporations to sue federal, state, and local governments in an
international tribunal for passing any law that could hurt their future
profits.
- TPP will force you
to pay hundreds of dollars for a name-brand drug where you now buy generic
for a fraction of the price
- The United States
will be in business with countries who execute single women and gays and
who run sweat shops on steroids.
And that's just what we
know. TPP, like Obamacare, will be the gift that keeps on giving.
No one really knows what's in it, but guaranteed it's another Pandora's
box. As more of the law leaks out, more of our freedoms and jobs will
disappear.
But the saddest part of TPP and of Obamacare is that our government
is not just too lazy to read these bills. They're not misinformed.
They actually conspire now against the American people. The people
have taken a back seat to the oligarchs and governments who have the cash.
I'm not a Sanders supporter, but Sanders at least made a valiant
effort to expose Washington's corrupt underbelly. He tried to stop TPP
before it finishes off America. But Bernie was up against massive power,
the ruling elite, and he lost.
Donald Trump is up against those same powerful people and
organizations, against the entire world in large part, because of TPP.
These are rich corporations and foreign countries funneling cash into Congress,
to the president, and to the Clintons. These are countries and corporations who want complete
control over America, our resources, our products, our lives. TPP is a
major step in that direction.
In fact, President Obama has threatened to pass TPP in a lame duck
session even if Trump wins the election. He probably has the votes to do
that – our Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, our House speaker, Paul
Ryan, and hundreds of others on the take will come through just as they did for
the Iran deal and the Omnibus.
This election really is a binary choice: Hillary Clinton, TPP, and
tyranny or Donald Trump and a stake through TPP's heart, individual trade
deals, and a powerful rejection of a global Big Brother. Bernie started
the fight. It's up to we the people to finish it.
