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Pelosi Adds Her Name to Reid in Opposing TPP Fast TrackBy Rob Kall (Page 1 of 1 pages) 2 comments, In Series: Globalization, TPP, NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO, WB, etc.
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These trade agreements, which demonstrate Obama's massive sellout of America to corporations, are useful in identifying the legislators who are clearly on the side of corporatism. Yves Smith, at NakedCapitalism, says,
"t he "trade" branding of these deals serves as a Trojan horse. Their big effect would be to considerably strengthen intellectual property rights (benefitting the medical-industrial complex, technology companies and Hollywood) while substantially weakening national sovereignity by allowing foreign investors to sue governments for lost potential profits as a result of national laws and regulation, such as environmental, labor, or consumer protection.'
The agreements are so, so bad that Obama has used unusual levels of secrecy to keep the American public from knowing what they contain. Even members of congress have had highly restricted access to their contents. Fortunately, part of the materials, the environmental chapter, has been released by Wikileaks.
Here's what the Washington Post reported yesterday :
In an event with labor officials on Capitol Hill today, Pelosi delivered her strongest statement yet of opposition to the bill that would grant the Fast Track Authority sought by the administration to negotiate a sweeping free trade deal with a dozen Pacific countries. The bill -- co-sponsored by Dem Senator Max Baucus and GOP Rep. Dave Camp -- is strongly opposed by labor, liberal groups and many Congressional Dems.
"No on Fast Track -- Camp-Baucus -- out of the question," Pelosi said, according to a transcript of her remarks forwarded to me by her office. She also told assembled steelworkers: "We cannot support Camp-Baucus. We cannot support Camp-Baucus."
This marks a significant hardening of Pelosi's opposition to the Fast Track Authority bill. It doesn't entirely rule out the possibility that she could support some version of Fast Track at some point, if its terms are overhauled to deal with her concerns about job loss from currency manipulation, and to create much more transparency around negotiations and give Dems much more input into them. But it creates a hurdle to the free trade measure, because it will be difficult to meet the conditions for supporting Fast Track that Pelosi is now laying down.
DSWright at Firedoglake observes,
" Fast track authority is necessary to pass TPP because so many awful things are within it that it would be very difficult drive it through Congress any other way. But the game is far from over, so much is on the line that it's unlikely the corporate forces behind TPP will accept defeat so easily."
The idea of TPP being a Trojan horse suggests a way to look at the Barack Obama presidency as a whole-- Obama himself is a Trojan horse for big corporations, bankers in particular. What seems to be shaping up is Obama, as he ends his final term, appears to be going all out to buy his way towards becoming a member of the corporatocracy. There's no doubt he will be a major player. Passing the two trade bills would make him royalty.
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Series: "Globalization, TPP, NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO, WB, etc."
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