TPP Means The People Pay

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Hey, boys and girls, here's a little quiz for you. It seems certain that the TPP is on its way to becoming a big part of our lives, so it's time to get acquainted. Sure you're uncertain; that's only to be expected when a looming threat is lowering its vast bulk to roost in what was once your nest. Well, TPP seems to be our future. So let's grab this bull by the horns, and maybe he'll respond with a handshake.

What about the almost certainty of TPP worries you more:

a. The giant sucking sounds of yet more US jobs being drained away;

b. The separate-but-unequal legal, called "the Court of the World", ISDS; or

c. The fact that Wall Street wants TPP in the worst way.

Well, you can't be wrong with a quiz like this. Truly, every choice is chilling.

One of the amazing aspects of US politics is the disconnect between what is said and what is reflected by reality, which few seem to notice. Take for example the promises of jobs that we heard back with implementation of NAFTA. Maybe the fault was ours and we merely assumed the word "jobs" meant that we, as in the taxpayers of the United States, would see more of them, rather than that they would be going elsewhere, anywhere that people would accept lower rates of pay. Anyway, that is what happened, and that is what has accelerated with every new so-called 'free-trade' agreement signed. Have you noticed? Bangladesh has.

As to the second point, referring to the investor-state dispute-resolution rules, these began again with NAFTA, the idea being to protect corporations investing abroad from their factories being nationalized or their products seized by government fiat. It took control of any resulting legal actions out of the locality and unto ostensibly neutral corporate lawyers. As it happened, it worked so well that the ISDS system is now included in over three thousand international trade treaties. Although NAFTA included only three countries--Canada, the US, and Mexico--because of the ISDS system Canada is now one of the most sued countries in the world.

This brings us to the third point, which is actually both the scariest of all and the reason that Wall Street's parasitic mouthparts are frothing with anticipation--an entomological first. ISDS has worked well, but not as originally intended, which was to help companies and governments resolve legitimate disputes over assets. ISDS has become a way for the rich to become richer via speculation. You remember speculation, don't you? You just put your lips together and suck.