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KoKo

(84,711 posts)
Fri Jan 30, 2015, 08:26 PM Jan 2015

"The Top Secret Trade Deal You Need to Know About"--Moyers & Company

Last edited Fri Jan 30, 2015, 11:15 PM - Edit history (1)

The Top Secret Trade Deal You Need to Know About

US-led trade deal is currently being negotiated that could increase the price of prescription drugs, weaken financial regulations and even allow partner countries to challenge American laws. But few know its substance.

The pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is deliberately shrouded in secrecy, a trade deal powerful people, including President Obama, don't want you to know about. Over 130 Members of Congress have asked the White House for more transparency about the negotiations and were essentially told to go fly a kite. While most of us are in the dark about the contents of the deal, which Obama aims to seal by year end, corporate lobbyists are in the know about what it contains.

And some vigilant independent watchdogs are tracking the negotiations with sources they trust, including Dean Baker and Yves Smith, who join Moyers & Company this week. Both have written extensively about the TPP and tell Bill the pact actually has very little to do with free trade.

Instead, says Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, "This really is a deal that's being negotiated by corporations for corporations and any benefit it provides to the bulk of the population of this country will be purely incidental." Yves Smith, an investment banking expert who runs the Naked Capitalism blog adds: "There would be no reason to keep it so secret if it was in the interest of the public."





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"The Top Secret Trade Deal You Need to Know About"--Moyers & Company (Original Post) KoKo Jan 2015 OP
K&R Cleita Jan 2015 #1
K&R 2naSalit Jan 2015 #2
K&R SamKnause Jan 2015 #3
A great discussion. Thanks. This thing is outrageous. (nt) enough Jan 2015 #4
K&R! Phlem Jan 2015 #5
Anyone understand the point behind "kick"? George II Jan 2015 #6
It's to Recommend a post one agrees with or finds some value in whether they agree or not...... KoKo Jan 2015 #11
This message was self-deleted by its author Corruption Inc Jan 2015 #13
Any reply libodem Jan 2015 #16
Thanks, that was my point!! "Kicking" a post six minutes after it has been posted is... George II Jan 2015 #17
It's somebody's baby, though libodem Jan 2015 #18
So? What difference does it make to you? cui bono Jan 2015 #20
Yep libodem Jan 2015 #25
Any house Democrats looking to educate themselves on the TPP should watch this interview. pa28 Jan 2015 #7
Kill this abomination with FIRE!! AzDar Jan 2015 #8
Corporations own you! 90-percent Jan 2015 #9
PS 90-percent Jan 2015 #10
K&R. Some of the facts seem a bit out of date. Any idea when this video was made? JDPriestly Jan 2015 #12
Yup - way out of date. Any poster should be required to state when the material was produced. erronis Jan 2015 #22
Yes there is ... 1StrongBlackMan Jan 2015 #32
I saw june 2013 on one riversedge Jan 2015 #28
, blkmusclmachine Jan 2015 #14
This segment includes some criticism of President Obama so it cannot be true. Enthusiast Jan 2015 #15
I recall NAFTA was a big point riversedge Jan 2015 #27
All TALK and no ACTION, have we fogotten this already? Johnny Rash Jan 2015 #19
"There would be no reason to keep it so secret if it was in the interest of the public" Jack Rabbit Jan 2015 #21
Why is this out-of-date segment being presented in Greatest Threads? erronis Jan 2015 #23
K&R ... IthinkThereforeIAM Jan 2015 #24
GAWD--increase prescription prices!! What is Obama thinking!! riversedge Jan 2015 #26
Good Old Third Way Obama colsohlibgal Jan 2015 #29
Yeah really Populist_Prole Jan 2015 #31
I find your lack of faith disturbing. frylock Jan 2015 #30
I'm outraged that this conspiracy theory has not been banished to the CT dungeon 99th_Monkey Feb 2015 #33
I can think of no better example...... DeSwiss Feb 2015 #34

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
11. It's to Recommend a post one agrees with or finds some value in whether they agree or not......
Fri Jan 30, 2015, 10:56 PM
Jan 2015

That is my understanding and what seems to be the norm on this site.

Response to George II (Reply #6)

libodem

(19,288 posts)
16. Any reply
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 11:39 AM
Jan 2015

Will send the post up to the top of the page. So a little will keep the article from going to the 2nd page and sinking.

George II

(67,782 posts)
17. Thanks, that was my point!! "Kicking" a post six minutes after it has been posted is...
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 11:46 AM
Jan 2015

...kind of senseless.

libodem

(19,288 posts)
18. It's somebody's baby, though
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 12:14 PM
Jan 2015

And when someone makes the effort to bring information, I'm pretty sure, they want to make sure it gets the exposure it deserves.

Just a little shepherding, is how I see it, so it won't get the flock outta here too fast.

cui bono

(19,926 posts)
20. So? What difference does it make to you?
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 03:08 PM
Jan 2015

If people think it's important but don't have a point they want to make they kick the thread. Who cares?

Especially with this most important topic that is not being publicly discussed by our govt, kicking is a fantastic way to keep it at the top. I just don't see why you would even bring it up unless you don't want people to know about TPP.

We need to know about things as they are being planned. It's important even if "it hasn't happened yet". We can still stop it.

pa28

(6,145 posts)
7. Any house Democrats looking to educate themselves on the TPP should watch this interview.
Fri Jan 30, 2015, 10:01 PM
Jan 2015

Yves is on top of her game.

90-percent

(6,828 posts)
9. Corporations own you!
Fri Jan 30, 2015, 10:53 PM
Jan 2015

"There would be no reason to keep it so secret if it was in the interests of the public" - Yves Smith

Fascism, pure and simple. Wasn't there some time in the worlds history where we were mostly against fascism?

When will they ever be satisfied with what they take from all of us? And why do they hate democracy? Don't they have any honor, integrity, generosity and compassion? Why do they work so hard to make things so much worse and more unfair to so many people?

Is there not at least one multi-national corporation that is not run by certifiable psychopaths?

-90% Jimmy

erronis

(14,955 posts)
22. Yup - way out of date. Any poster should be required to state when the material was produced.
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 04:14 PM
Jan 2015

While some of the facts/rhetoric are worthwhile, there's very little reason for presenting this at DU for re-consumption.

 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
32. Yes there is ...
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 06:42 PM
Jan 2015

Because someone in it said "TPP BAD" ... so the facts really don't matter that much.

riversedge

(69,730 posts)
28. I saw june 2013 on one
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 05:21 PM
Jan 2015

of the papers in the video. I do not think we know too much more at this point

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)
15. This segment includes some criticism of President Obama so it cannot be true.
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 09:47 AM
Jan 2015

They claim candidate Obama vowed to correct NAFTA. They claim president Obama recognized that NAFTA and similar trade deals had damaged the workers of the United States. They even played a video of candidate Obama making such remarks. I don't know how they faked these videos of candidate Obama making these remarks. Technology has come a long way.

The American people need to trust the corporations and the government. The corporations and the government would never do anything that would harm our interests.

I have heard many politicians tell me that, on the whole, these trade deal have been beneficial to the American worker.

We should stop complaining and realize these things being done behind closed doors will be in our long term best interests.

[url=http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php][img][/img][/url]

riversedge

(69,730 posts)
27. I recall NAFTA was a big point
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 05:16 PM
Jan 2015

of contention--to say the least during the primary between Obama and Hillary.

 

Johnny Rash

(227 posts)
19. All TALK and no ACTION, have we fogotten this already?
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 12:57 PM
Jan 2015
Consumers have already the necessary TOOLS for dealing with issues such as this one, but DON'T tell them that, right?

Still, the real problem arises when a THIRD Party (middle-man) is never being put into questions openly or otherwise.

Hence, the CROSSROAD where Economists and Theologists meet and merged into one mean deadly ugly Ideology.


Whereas Theologists invented a THIRD player for the Cosmological Archetype of most Religions, Economists created the MIDDLE-MAN (Can Do) concept for solving Basic Human Crisis.



The "Does", "Can Do", and "Know How" Holy Trinity Structure of our Economists, also known as "The Private Sector", "Middle-Man" and "Middle-Class" Pyramid.

So, having said that, I hope one can see the "why" the MIDDLE-MAN (Can Do) is never being question. Might it just be that the MIDDLE-MAN (Can Do) has outgrown the need for the Holy Trinity Structure of our Economists?

When the MIDDLE-MAN (Can Do) becomes the sole Beneficiary of the Holy Trinity Structure of our Economists, it's called TOTALITARIANISM, and CAPITALISM becomes a mere effective delivery system for executing one mean deadly ugly Ideology onto us all.

Jack Rabbit

(45,984 posts)
21. "There would be no reason to keep it so secret if it was in the interest of the public"
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 03:36 PM
Jan 2015

That, the last word for Yves Smith, is true.

That would mean that if America were actually a democracy, the default position of the people's representatives would be to oppose the TPP. To fast track this agreement when no member of Congress is allowed to see the whole thing, or even to bring it up for any kind of vote under those circumstances, is like signing a contract without reading the fine print.

The push to ram the TPP through Congress as quickly as possible without public discussion is just further evidence that America is an oligarchy in which corporate masters are aristocrats who presume to know what is best for the whole society and, as aristocratic classes have don throughout history, make decisions conforming to their own narrow interests and tell the unwashed masses that starving to death is good for them. That is the sum of John Galt's speech from Atlas Shrugged.

We, the People, have a right to read the TPP before our representatives in the legislature vote on it. We have a right to discuss this matter among ourselves, with the expectation that their will be a full discussion and airing of the agreement in a congressional debate before it is voted up or down. This whole process is an attempt to make fundamental law without consulting the people or even allowing the representatives of the people to be fully informed. It is a process that violates the principle that government is legitimate only if it is government with the consent of the governed.

Under these circumstances, any congressman who is prepared to support this agreement that he cannot read or streamline its passage is no true representative of the people of his district or state. It is simply not OK to be OK with that.

erronis

(14,955 posts)
23. Why is this out-of-date segment being presented in Greatest Threads?
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 04:17 PM
Jan 2015

Is there some special <bump> tag that makes something bubble up to the top again?

There are plenty of new resources available on the TPP that would merit our reading. Why not include something more recent?

colsohlibgal

(5,275 posts)
29. Good Old Third Way Obama
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 05:24 PM
Jan 2015

Sorry Bots, you'll bend yourselves into a pretzel trying the rationalize this abomination.

I really miss the time when almost all democrats were actually democrats.

Populist_Prole

(5,364 posts)
31. Yeah really
Sat Jan 31, 2015, 06:03 PM
Jan 2015

These people that rationalize deals like these, or "anything for a deal" are really wagging the dog.

You should choose a party based on its ideals supporting yours, not choose a party, then go for whatever ideals they say they support.

They talk about a rift in the GOP between plutocrats and social issue wingnuts, but there's a rift a-brewing between neoliberals and populists in the democratic party.

 

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)
34. I can think of no better example......
Sun Feb 1, 2015, 01:01 AM
Feb 2015

...which so clearly demonstrates that we do not have a democratic government.

When even our elected officials are told they cannot know what is in legislation they must vote for or against.

We live in a Corporate-Oligarchy with minor democratic-like features designed to assuage and manipulate the unthinking into believing that their thoughts and concerns matter to those who own this enterprise.

Those who look to this Potemkin-government for answers and/or protection shall be sorely disappointed later.

But be encouraged, because political systems don't last forever.

None ever has.

They are all stepping-stones.

Evolutions towards something better than what came before.

When we continue to use, to support a flawed system in the belief that it can somehow be miraculously changed with more band-aids and fixes and more laws, we are simply being foolish.

It is like a child who closes it's eyes to a reality it doesn't want to see and tries to wish it away.

When the flaws are all inherent in the makeup of the system.

- Remember: ''It's only INSANITY if we never stop doing it..........''

K&R

“The supreme mystery of despotism, its prop and stay, is to keep men in a state of deception, and cloak the fear by which they must be held in check, so that they will fight for their servitude as if for salvation.” ~Baruch Spinoza

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