Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership

Joe Wolverton, II, J.D. ~ Why Do A Majority Of Americans Oppose Fast-Tracking The TPP?

~ admin ~ Leave a comment

TheNewAmerican  April 1 2014

A recent poll reveals a majority of Americans oppose giving President Obama the power to make an end run around the Constitution by “fast tracking” the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

In a press release issued by Communications Workers of America, survey results indicate that 62 percent of respondents totally oppose “having Congress give the president fast-track authority [aka Trade Promotion Authority] for a new Pacific trade agreement.”

One of the questions asked by pollsters Hart Research and Chesapeake Beach Consulting accurately explained that if the president were given this authority, “Once the administration’s negotiations are completed, Congress must take an up-or-down vote on the agreement as a whole, and could not make any amendments or changes in the agreement.”

Given the myriad difficulties dogging negotiators from the 12 countries currently included in the trade pact region, blocking the granting of such sweeping power is critical.

Additionally, in light of significant bipartisan opposition to the agreement, it would seem that only President Obama can close the deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Part of that includes persuading Congress to “fast track” negotiation of the TPP, in the form of a Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill.

The TPA is a tool that the president demands be in the U.S. trade representative’s bag when he sits down with his colleagues from the other TPP participants. Forbes reports:

Continue reading →

GMO Food Laced With Weed Killer And Bail-Ins [Video]

~ admin ~ 1 Comment

USAWatchdog  December 2 2013

Genetically modified organismAuthor/journalist Ellen Brown is constantly warning the public about the harm banks and corporations are causing. Her latest warning involves GMO foods (Genetically Modified Organisms) laced with a weed killer. Brown says, “We’re not allowed to know our food is GMO . . . Glyphosate inhibits your enzymes to digest food . . . it’s been linked to 40 different diseases.”

Brown says GMO food and many other things are part of the latest trade agreement called the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP. Brown says, “It is supposedly a free trade agreement, but it is not really free trade. It is more like a restrictive trade agreement. In other words, it is imposing corporate monopolies on other countries and on us.”

[youtube=http://youtu.be/Vtv6RBo3Pzo&w=500]

Continue reading →

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTP) Betrayal – Part II

~ admin ~ Leave a comment

BATR  November 27 2013

The other leg to the Trans-Pacific Partnership is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. In Part I scrutiny of the TPP proposal indicates that standards of monopoly amalgamation far exceeded efforts to advance actual competitive trade. From the White House Fact Sheet, the aims of the TTIP are:

• Further open EU markets, increasing the $458 billion in goods and private services the United States exported in 2012 to the EU, our largest export market.

• Strengthen rules-based investment to grow the world’s largest investment relationship. The United States and the EU already maintain a total of nearly $3.7 trillion in investment in each other’s economies (as of 2011).

• Eliminate all tariffs on trade.

• Tackle costly “behind the border” non-tariff barriers that impede the flow of goods, including agricultural goods.

• Obtain improved market access on trade in services.

• Significantly reduce the cost of differences in regulations and standards by promoting greater compatibility, transparency, and cooperation, while maintaining our high levels of health, safety, and environmental protection.

• Develop rules, principles, and new modes of cooperation on issues of global concern, including intellectual property and market-based disciplines addressing state-owned enterprises and discriminatory localization barriers to trade.

• Promote the global competitiveness of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Opponents of TTIP echo the same loss of national sovereignty, similar to the reservations with TPP. The IPS-Inter Press Service reports on the concerns and consequences.

Continue reading →

James Hall ~ The Trans-Pacific Partnership Economic Enslavement

~ admin ~ Leave a comment

BATR  November 20 2013

Trade Agreements – Part I

The latest proof of the Globalist plan for total economic imprisonment is available for scrutiny. Thanks to whistleblowers, the clandestine trade missions of international corporatists must contend with public blowback. Recently, WikiLeaks released the secret negotiated draft text, Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP is the largest-ever economic treaty, encompassing nations representing more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP. The TPP Agreement along with the Table of Contents and supportive documentation provides the evidence.

When vastly diverse segments of political perspective unify against this assault on economic self-determination, challenging the very exercise of such agreements is in order. In the article, Obama’s Dangerous International Deal, a libertarian viewpoint argues and warns, “The USTR acknowledges the existence of 29 chapters under negotiation. Only five of these chapters deal directly with trade. The other 24 aim to influence many issues, such as food and environmental standards, intellectual property, and pharmaceutical formularies.”

Perennial progressive Jim Hightower writes in an Alternet article, A Corporate Coup in Disguise.

“What if our national leaders told us that communities across America had to eliminate such local programs as Buy Local, Buy American, Buy Green, etc. to allow foreign corporations to have the right to make the sale on any products purchased with our tax dollars? This nullification of our people’s right to direct expenditures is just one of the horror stories in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).”.

From the Voice of Russia, not usually known for defending transnational cartels, is an observation that you are not hearing in the financial press, Obama attempting to ram through unconstitutional secret treaty.

“With the US debt at over $200 trillion dollars and their grasp on control slipping, Obama and the corporations that have taken over the US Government are attempting to do anything they can to cling to power and enslave the populace.

The fact that the heads of the governments who are a party to the TPP, would attempt to sign such an all encompassing treaty without the knowledge of their respective governments and their people is a something unheard of an unprecedented in history.” Continue reading →

Aaron Dykes ~ Trans-Pacific Partnership Breaks Down Sovereignty And GMO Protections

~ admin ~ 3 Comments

TruthstreamMedia  August 21 2013

Multilateral trade agreement crafted by megacorporations would undermine jobs, expand GMOs and Big Pharma, restrict Internet freedom and strengthen global government.

Australia
U.S. trade representative Michael Froman

Japan is joining negotiations with 11 other countries in an ongoing effort to create a Trans-Pacific Partnership that participants hope to finalize by the end of the year. Led by the U.S., partner nations already on board include Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Brunei, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Many voices in the public, however, oppose the deal on the grounds that its formation favors the business interests of megacorporations who would profit off of global trade at the expense of internet freedom, national sovereignty, food independence and jobs. Moreover, the deal has been worked out largely in secret and without consulting Congress.

U.S. trade representative Michael Froman visited Japan ahead of the TPP negotiation to iron out agreements and rally against protective interests in Japan who see the agreement, and particularly its loosening of tariffs as a threat. According to the WSJ, concerns persist over the ‘rice, beef, pork, dairy, wheat and sugar’ markets and other industries:

Japan’s Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives adopted a declaration on Aug. 8. saying it has “grave problems” with the TPP, as it could jeopardize food safety and universal healthcare services, andundermine the nation’s sovereignty. “It’s extremely regrettable that the government has entered the negotiations without clarifying such concerns,” the statement said.

Mr. Froman said “Barriers to access to Japan’s automotive and insurance markets, and non-tariff measures and other sectoral and cross-cutting areas hold back growth and innovation, undermine competitiveness, and hurt workers, businesses and consumers in both our countries.” [emphasis added]

Continue reading →