Jane Sanders' Tweet on GE Day.. "How We Voted is Not as Important as that we voted"

[Celerity]

281. being against TPP (a shit deal) was not at all the reason for Rump's victory

TPP was a bad deal, and not just because of the horrid ISDS and patent evergreening provisions.

I refuse to be gaslit on this. It also is disingenuous at best to see opposition to TPP equated or insinuated or linked in any way to posit a form of (or actual) support for Trump and Sanders, or to say it helped Rump get elected. You can absolutely not be for either (Sanders or Rump) and still think the TTP was a bad thing.

Support for deals like this is partially (the percentage is up for debate but it is not a small percentage) why we have such discontent here in our nation, discontent that just further adds to the latent and overt sexism, racism, misogyny, and hate that monsters like Trump tapped into. It just gave him another arrow in his quiver of poison for his mob.

The TPP also would have been a fundamental driver for further wealth inequality, here and globally, and wealth inequality is the number one interlocked statistic when it comes to the well-being of a society on basically all levels of measurement.


Why TPP Is a Bad Deal for America and American Workers

BY JOSEPH STIGLITZ

http://rooseveltinstitute.org/why-tpp-bad-deal-america-and-american-workers/


the whole series

Tricks of the Trade Deal: Six Big Problems with the Trans-Pacific Partnership

http://rooseveltinstitute.org/tricks-trade-deal-six-big-problems-trans-pacific-partnership/



How to Tell TPP Is a Bad Deal

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-tell-tpp-is-a-bad_b_8914388



9 Ways the TPP Is Bad for Developing Countries

https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/07/9-ways-the-tpp-is-bad-for-developing-countries/



The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is Unlikely to Be a Good Deal for American Workers

https://www.epi.org/publication/tpp-unlikely-to-be-good-deal-for-american-workers/



The TPP has the potential for real harm

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-16/verrender-the-tpp-has-the-potential-for-real-harm/6321538


Ending the corporate power grab of Investor-State Dispute Settlement

https://www.citizen.org/topic/globalization-trade/corporate-power-expanded-isds/



How trade deals like TPP fail the global poor

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/6/9680538/tpp-development-trade-poverty



Robert Reich takes on the Trans-Pacific Partnership

How economic inequality harms societies | Richard Wilkinson

My Rep, Ted Lieu, and a large, large number of our Democratic Caucus are/were 100% against these flawed, tainted deals.


https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-lieu-statement-trans-pacific-partnership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington - Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) issued the following statement regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“Last year, I voted against Trade Promotion Authority because I did not believe a trade agreement with questionable environmental and labor provisions should be fast tracked for ratification. As I review the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership today, my concerns have only worsened.

I will not support an unfair trade deal that lacks enforceable environmental and labor standards. Specifically, I believe trade agreements must uphold President Obama’s and other landmark climate regulations. They must ensure the protection of the environment, fish, and wildlife. Moreover, any agreement must put American workers first and strengthen, not weaken, labor protections.

It is unclear whether or not TPP will receive a vote in Congress this year, but in the meantime I will continue to listen to the deep concerns of my constituents.”

Link to tweet

https://projects.propublica.org/represent/votes/114/house/1/374


https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/lieu-we-entrust

Trade policy

Lieu also listed his concerns to me about proposed secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) 12-nation trade agreement, which has been kept from the American public, while large corporations have been at the TPP negotiating table for years.

On July 12, Lieu was one of over two hundred House members who cast historic ‘no’ votes that at least for now, prevent President Obama from receiving Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to negotiate the TPP. Also known as ‘Fast Track’ authority, TPA would prevent the Congress from amending the TPP, and instead would only allow for a single up/down vote on it, once presented to them by the President.

Lieu’s concerns went beyond transparency, to concerns about the TPP’s lack of a currency provision, which he argued “means all enforcement mechanisms are ineffective, because countries can engage in mass cheating by manipulating their currency.” He also cited experience with other trade agreements, that had the effect of “hollowing out the middle class and leading to greater wage inequality by shipping jobs overseas and hurting the American worker.”

But perhaps most insidiously he cited the TPP’s “Investor-State Dispute Settlement,” or ISDS provision, that would allow foreign companies to challenge U.S. Laws — and to potentially pick up huge payouts from taxpayers -without ever stepping foot in a U.S. court.

The ISDS would allow foreign companies to challenge any U.S. Law that protects public health, safety, the environment or workers, by arguing it unreasonably limited their profits — from, say, Santa Monica’s Sustainability Rights of Nature ordinance, to water rationing on farm land owned by foreign investors here in drought-stricken California. If a company wins, the ruling can’t be challenged in U.S. courts, and secret arbitration panels can require American taxpayers to cough up millions — even billions — of dollars in damages, which would then also have a chilling effect on passing such future legislation.




Senate Democrats gang up to delay fast-track trade bill

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade/senate-democrats-gang-up-to-delay-fast-track-trade-bill-idUSKBN0NX0B320150512

snip

The vote marked a victory for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, an outspoken opponent of fast-track, after weeks of speculation that the toughest fight would be in the House of Representatives and not the Senate.

snip

Only one Democrat, Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, backed the measure, despite a White House campaign blitz to win Democratic support.

snip

Failure sends a worrying signal about the level of support for fast track, which is opposed by unions, environmental and consumer groups but backed by businesses, which reacted with disappointment.

snip