Thanks to leaked documents, we now know some of the undesirable details of the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Negotiations being conducted away from the public arena and most don't pertain to trade!
Rather, TPP would impose a system of binding global governance over our federal and state laws and courts. We would be obliged to conform our domestic policies on land use, food safety, financial regulation, foreign ownership, patents and copyright, and more to TPP's terms.
Failure to do so would result in trade sanctions and/or obligations to compensate foreign firms with our tax dollars - penalties imposed by foreign tribunals. We now know the following:
• Offshoring Incentives: TPP has the investor protections also found in NAFTA that help corporations offshore jobs by removing many of the risks associated with relocating to low-wage nations. The U.S. has lost more than 5 million (1 out of 4) of its manufacturing jobs since NAFTA and the global WTO went into effect. This will mean a loss of many more American jobs.
• Ban on "Buy American": Any firm operating in a TPP signatory nation would get privileged access to U.S. procurement contracts paid with our tax dollars! TPP would send our taxpayer money offshore, rather than recycling it here to create American jobs. "Buy American" would be penalized if not made outright criminal.
• U.S. Submitted to Jurisdiction of Foreign Tribunals: TPP would expand the notorious "investor-state" system, subjecting the U.S. to the jurisdiction of World Bank and U.N. tribunals. The tribunals would be empowered to order payment of our tax dollars to foreign corporations operating within the U.S. if they object to complying with the same laws that apply to U.S. firms.
• More Financial Instability: TPP would forbid bans on risky financial products or services while making measures to reduce systemic risk, such as capital controls, illegal.
• Higher Medicine Prices: Big PhRMA would get new privileges to raise drug prices.
Etc...
TPP secrets: Obama covertly handing more power to corporations
Interestingly, New Scientist published a study conducted by a trio of complex systems theorists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich which combined the mathematics long used to model natural systems with comprehensive corporate data to map ownership among the world's transnational corporations (TNCs).
What they discovered analyzing the relationships between the 43,000 largest transnational corporations on earth was that 147 organizations, mainly banks, wielded a disproportionate power over the global economy.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html
Forbes explained the size of these 147 companies is simply a reflection of the way most people invest in the public markets; however, allowing the world financial system to be dominated by a relatively few firms is obvious: when they go broke they take everyone else with them, as we have already witnessed.
Another problem is that they wield enormous power over governments and can end up dictating and oppressing the populations and small businesses (e.g. their competitors) of entire nations effectively becoming the "iron hand in the velvet glove" over not only our jobs, income, and property but also our government, rule of law, etc...
It is by leveraging our own government, that they have created a trade and business paradigm by which they displace our U.S. middle class into the ranks of the poor acquiring their income, wealth, and property in the process. The TPP is simply the next logical step for them to take.
It should also be noted that the Commerce Clause of our Constitution is an enumerated power listed in Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 which states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes."
Obama is currently "freelancing" the executive branch to push through a secret treaty to regulate commerce in the United States that allows for foreign corporations operating in the US to appeal regulations to an international tribunal that could over rule American laws. This is a secret backdoor strategy and it's completely out of line.
Also:
1. Visit 'Economy In Crisis' at http://www.economyincrisis.org for more information.
2. Enter your zip code at the Electronic Frontier Foundation to tell your representatives you want "to bring transparency to the TPPs agreement and ensure that the TPP text reflects the interests of all U.S. industries and citizens."
Rather, TPP would impose a system of binding global governance over our federal and state laws and courts. We would be obliged to conform our domestic policies on land use, food safety, financial regulation, foreign ownership, patents and copyright, and more to TPP's terms.
Failure to do so would result in trade sanctions and/or obligations to compensate foreign firms with our tax dollars - penalties imposed by foreign tribunals. We now know the following:
• Offshoring Incentives: TPP has the investor protections also found in NAFTA that help corporations offshore jobs by removing many of the risks associated with relocating to low-wage nations. The U.S. has lost more than 5 million (1 out of 4) of its manufacturing jobs since NAFTA and the global WTO went into effect. This will mean a loss of many more American jobs.
• Ban on "Buy American": Any firm operating in a TPP signatory nation would get privileged access to U.S. procurement contracts paid with our tax dollars! TPP would send our taxpayer money offshore, rather than recycling it here to create American jobs. "Buy American" would be penalized if not made outright criminal.
• U.S. Submitted to Jurisdiction of Foreign Tribunals: TPP would expand the notorious "investor-state" system, subjecting the U.S. to the jurisdiction of World Bank and U.N. tribunals. The tribunals would be empowered to order payment of our tax dollars to foreign corporations operating within the U.S. if they object to complying with the same laws that apply to U.S. firms.
• More Financial Instability: TPP would forbid bans on risky financial products or services while making measures to reduce systemic risk, such as capital controls, illegal.
• Higher Medicine Prices: Big PhRMA would get new privileges to raise drug prices.
Etc...
TPP secrets: Obama covertly handing more power to corporations
Interestingly, New Scientist published a study conducted by a trio of complex systems theorists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich which combined the mathematics long used to model natural systems with comprehensive corporate data to map ownership among the world's transnational corporations (TNCs).
What they discovered analyzing the relationships between the 43,000 largest transnational corporations on earth was that 147 organizations, mainly banks, wielded a disproportionate power over the global economy.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html
Forbes explained the size of these 147 companies is simply a reflection of the way most people invest in the public markets; however, allowing the world financial system to be dominated by a relatively few firms is obvious: when they go broke they take everyone else with them, as we have already witnessed.
Another problem is that they wield enormous power over governments and can end up dictating and oppressing the populations and small businesses (e.g. their competitors) of entire nations effectively becoming the "iron hand in the velvet glove" over not only our jobs, income, and property but also our government, rule of law, etc...
It is by leveraging our own government, that they have created a trade and business paradigm by which they displace our U.S. middle class into the ranks of the poor acquiring their income, wealth, and property in the process. The TPP is simply the next logical step for them to take.
It should also be noted that the Commerce Clause of our Constitution is an enumerated power listed in Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 which states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes."
Obama is currently "freelancing" the executive branch to push through a secret treaty to regulate commerce in the United States that allows for foreign corporations operating in the US to appeal regulations to an international tribunal that could over rule American laws. This is a secret backdoor strategy and it's completely out of line.
Also:
1. Visit 'Economy In Crisis' at http://www.economyincrisis.org for more information.
2. Enter your zip code at the Electronic Frontier Foundation to tell your representatives you want "to bring transparency to the TPPs agreement and ensure that the TPP text reflects the interests of all U.S. industries and citizens."
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