General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Fast Track" , TTP which controls 40 % of global economy right now, to bypass discussion...
Fast track was a tool introduced by Nixon's administration... And it is being used to have as little conversation as possible about this trade agreement...
"Why the secrecy? The Obama Administration wants as little public debate as possible, so it can ram the agreements through Congress using something called "Fast Track." Fast Track, a product of the Nixon presidency, strips Congress of its authority to control the content of a trade deal and hands that authority over to the executive branch. Congress gets a vote, but only after the negotiations have been completed, and the agreements have been signed. No debate. No amendments. Just a fast, forced vote, too late for Congress to have any influence. According to the CTC, two-thirds of Democratic freshmen in the U.S. House of Representatives have expressed serious reservations about the TPP negotiations and the prospect of giving Fast Track authority to the President. And more than 400 organizations representing 15 million Americans have already petitioned Congress to do away with Fast Track in favor of a more democratic approach to trade agreement negotiations. So far those pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
If the public is shut out, and Congress gets no say, who gets a seat at the table? Corporations. That's right. The Obama Administration is trusting corporations like Dow AgroSciences, Cargill and DuPont, and trade groups like the Pork Producers Council and Tobacco Associates, Inc., to write food safety policies. In all, more than 600 corporations have been given access to drafts of various chapters of the TPP. Requests for the same level of access, from members of Congress and from the public, have been denied.
No wonder then that, according to leaked drafts obtained by groups like the CTC, Public Citizen and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), the TPP contains proposals designed to give transnational corporations "special rights" that go far beyond those possessed by domestic businesses and American citizens, says Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the CTC. Experts who have reviewed the leaked texts say that TPP negotiators propose allowing transnational corporations to challenge countries' laws, regulations and court decisions, including environmental and food safety laws. Corporations will be allowed to resolve trade disputes in special international tribunals. In other words, they get to do an end run around the countries' domestic judicial systems, effectively wiping out hundreds, if not more, domestic and international food sovereignty laws.
U.S. consumers aren't the only ones who should be up in arms about these trade agreements, the secrecy around their negotiations, and the Obama Administration's intent to fast-track them. Under the TTIP and TPP, consumers in countries that have stricter food safety regulations than those in the U.S. will see their standards lowered, too. For instance, Japan prohibits the use of peracetic acid to sterilize vegetables, fruits and meat, while the U.S., Canada and Australia allow it. Japan's health ministry, in anticipation of the TPP, has said the country will add the acid to its approved list. In all, Japan has approved only about 800 food additives, to the more than 3,000 approved in the U.S. Japan's consumers could soon see a sudden reversal of laws enacted to protect their health."
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/17962-secret-trade-agreements-threaten-food-safety-subvert-democracy-
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)I have the most transparent administration ever.
Isn't that right, Jamie and Lloyd? Did I say that right?"
xchrom
(108,903 posts)byeya
(2,842 posts)to me.
Another 0bama failure in democratic procedures.
pipoman
(16,038 posts)there would be Dem congressmen and senators screaming...no, the screamers are silent because they have been paid to be silent and threatened if they don't..
byeya
(2,842 posts)of Congress, through the appropriate committees and subcommittees being allowed to learn of the negotiating positton of the
government?
I have read columnists reprinted in the Progressive Populist quote members of the House and Senate say that they are not.
If I am wrong, I'd like to know so I can quit repeating what I recall reading.
pipoman
(16,038 posts)was used for the NAFTA and the GATT because some 80% of the US population opposed these agreements. It allows for passage without threatening the seats of those who vote and without the discussion resulting in public awareness. No, it is contrary to the principals of a democratic republic, just like FISA. The silence is deafening. It is time for a house cleaning and a leader willing to shine the light on these government corruptions..sadly, it should be a Dem, but alas I suspect when it finally happens it will mark the end of one of the existing parties...and since the thugs are just doing what they always have and the dems have begun sleeping with the enemy to the point of nobody being able to tell the two apart, it will likely be the democratic party which will become more irrelevant to the point of extinction..
pipoman
(16,038 posts)bipartisan liplock destroying the US at the pleasure of international big business...in decades gone by it would have been Democrats which would have protected US workers from this shit...now, they are owned by the same masters as the thugs...the labor party is dead, the civil liberties party is dead, and Dems are dancing on the graves..disgusting and time for REAL change...the sooner the better..
ctsnowman
(1,903 posts)mountain grammy
(26,621 posts)Ross Perot got that one right!
midnight
(26,624 posts)these agreements not being in the best interest of America...
Fearless
(18,421 posts)What what?
bemildred
(90,061 posts)"Let's do it behind closed doors so we won't have to listen to any of the people this will hurt."
TheJames
(120 posts)Its not the White man, Black or Brown,
Its the Rich man who keeps you down.©
midnight
(26,624 posts)When Scroogle's search engine was in use, they would post a thank you from the very rich that covered all the ways the working people would never be one of them...