Elizabeth Warren on the secret trade deals..'If Americans knew..

[Ichingcarpenter]

Elizabeth Warren Reveals Inside Details of Trade Talks

Elizabeth Warren Reveals Inside Details of Trade Talks
George Zornick on May 15, 2014 - 11:53 AM ET

One of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s top priorities since coming to Washington has been opening up ongoing international trade talks to public scrutiny—she has, on several occasions, criticized the secret nature of the negotiations, and has pressed the administration’s trade representative directly about transparency.

On Wednesday night in DC, at Public Citizen’s annual gala, Warren spoke about the trade deals in some of her most direct remarks to date on the issue—and revealed some inside details about the debate in Congress.

“From what I hear, Wall Street, pharmaceuticals, telecom, big polluters and outsourcers are all salivating at the chance to rig the deal in the upcoming trade talks. So the question is, Why are the trade talks secret? You’ll love this answer. Boy, the things you learn on Capitol Hill,” Warren said. “I actually have had supporters of the deal say to me ‘They have to be secret, because if the American people knew what was actually in them, they would be opposed.’”






Elizabeth Warren speaking at Public Citizen's annual gala at the National Press Club, May 14, 2014 (Daniel Swartz/REVAMP)


http://www.thenation.com/blog/179885/elizabeth-warren-reveals-inside-details-trade-talks

[Rod Beauvex]

1. Well...

If she knows what's in them, why is she holding back? Telling us they're bad isn't a revelation. We know this inherently.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Well its more transparent than what the administration has said

cause its a secret transparency to them.

[Rod Beauvex]

3. I'm reminded of a Discworld exchange.

In The Truth

(Hugnon Ridcully) "And these are your reasons, my lord?"
"Do you think I have others?" said Lord Vetinari. "My motives, as ever, are entirely transparent."
Hughnon reflected that 'entirely transparent' meant either that you could see right through them or that you couldn't see them at all.

[L0oniX]

4. transparent' meant either that you could see right through them or that you couldn't see them at all

Excellent!

[Rod Beauvex]

7. Indeed.

Terry Pratchett's writing is always enjoyable, if a bit hard to follow at first.

[L0oniX]

5. Those that hate what corporations are doing to us will back her for POTUS....

and those that don't give a fuck will vote for Hillary because ...she's inevitable? ...or because ...who else you gonna vote for ...if you don't vote you are voting for the other side ...if we loose it will be your fault ...blah blah blah pfffffft

[madfloridian]

8. Are there only those 5 paragraphs to the article?

I would have thought there were more. I logged into my account there, and I still only see 5 paragraphs.

Just enough to get my interest and want more.

Thanks for the link. BTW I wrote them to check and see if there were more.

[LiberalLovinLug]

10. But if Snowden or someone like him ever revealed these secrets..

...he'd be a dirty traitor to some here on DU.

[JoeyT]

11. You don't even have to go that far.

Simply wondering what's in them is enough to get you branded a conspiracy theorist.

[arikara]

23. Yes, the sock puppets do their job well.

I often wonder how many are paid to do that sort of work here. The same ones appear on the same type of threads and disrupt in the same way. Over and over again. I quit using ignore when they changed to this version of DU, but I started using it again and its helped a bit.

[blackspade]

12. Warren is a breath of fresh air in the dank tomb of Congress.

[oneofthe99]

13. She's just causing alarm where there isn't any

Obama is for the working class and he would never do anything that would hurt
working blue collar Americans or unions.

You guys just need to zip it.

TRUST IN OBAMA

[The Traveler]

14. If there is no cause for alarm

then why all the secrecy?

I've read over the leaked materials ... tragic we know of this principally from leaked materials. And having read that material, I find myself quite alarmed.

In a functioning democracy, the terms and conditions of an agreement of this magnitude would be discussed publicly, and the people given a chance to vote for representatives according to their positions on the matter. This thing needs to be properly aired out. The reluctance to do so is, by itself, something I regard as being entirely problematic.

Trav

[lark]

15. Are you joking?

I believe you are, but could be wrong.

[oneofthe99]

16. .

[Jefferson23]

17. She is using the word salivating to desrcibe these vultures of capitalism. K&R

This secret crap needs to end.

[INdemo]

18. Its time for Elizabeth Warrento be elected President

We don't need another Corporatist Republican Lite and Hillary would be just that.
Elizabeth Warren would bring out the voters(especially the die-hard-liberals) that skipped the last election.
She is would be another FDR and she would save our Democracy and turn back the Corporate take-over

[evilhime]

19. Sadly another area

where I am disappointed in our President . . . he promised transparency and has not delivered on it. The TPP is a nightmare for our workers and jobs, and a major gift to the corporations and other countries, so why is it going forward? I do not understand!

[Armstead]

20. When some of us are accused of just being "Democrat bashers" I say.....

This is what ALL of our Democratic leaders should be doing and the public interest they should be supporting.

Then there'd be a lot less complaining among us "hair on fire" malcontents.

Warren is no radical leftie. She's pretty damn mainstream in her views. She just has a measure of common sense and a belief that government should have a responsibility to the majority of average Americans and the disadvantaged, and should not merely be a Corporate Subsidiary of the Wealthy and Powerful.

It's a shame the values and priorities she stands for are not the template for all Democratic leaders.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government;

Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.

 Thomas Jefferson

[TBF]

22. Thank you for

spreading this - we really need people to see "TPP" and understand it's more "free trade" ala NAFTA. And worse because no one will let us see the texts of these agreements.

I might be able to get behind "globalization" if it were handled differently. I like the idea of people in third world countries having jobs too. But the problem is that while they talk about raising the minimum wage here they are slowly lowering the wages of many in the so-called "middle" class and also looking for lower wages overseas. As this continues to spread there will be people employment all over the world at consistently low wages. That wouldn't be so bad except that there is a global owner class that is not about to take the cuts they expect us all to make. They will continue to own multiple homes, fly their private planes, sail on their yachts etc. It must be good to be king/queen.

The very sad thing is that POTUS has decided it would be more fun to be part of that crew. He still has remained loyal on women's issues, support for civil rights, and has done more in the area of LGBT than I expected. But economically it is the same old, same old with the very top getting even wealthier and the middle slipping down into the poor.

[Faryn Balyncd]

24. She nails it again.