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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCharles Pierce: TPP approval process 'an exercise in kabuki democracy'
Stuff The President Said TodayIn which the president oversells the bad deal that is the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
By Charles Pierce
The president got on the horn with some reporters today and escalated the argument he's having with Senator Professor Warren and his progressive base over the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This has become quite the hooley indeed.
"The one that gets on my nerves the most is the notion that this is a 'secret' deal," Obama said. "Every single one of the critics who I hear saying, 'this is a secret deal,' or send out emails to their fundraising base saying they're working to prevent this secret deal, can walk over today and read the text of the agreement. There's nothing secret about it."
In fact, there's been a lot that's secret about it ever since the negotiations began. It was negotiated behind closed doors, and for reasons that benefited nobody except large corporations and the politicians, dictators, and provincial satraps who do their bidding. (The fact we know much of anything at all is because the good folks at WikiLeaks threw some of the treaty out into the world, which is hardly a proof that the TPP isn't a "secret" deal. WikiLeaks doesn't do a lot of work with stuff that's in the public domain.) The congressional opportunities that the president is referring to are limited, and there's no good reason for that, either.
"When I listen to criticism of this deal, what I primarily hear is criticism of NAFTA," Obama said. "If you don't like the fact that labor provisions aren't enforceable right now, why wouldn't you want a trade deal that makes labor provisions enforceable with some of the same countries we currently trade with?"
The NAFTA labor provisions were supposed to be enforceable, too. How'd that work out? Most of it was smoke and mirrors and nonsense. As John MacArthur writes in his book about the selling of "free trade," even Al Gore's famous trouncing of Ross Perot in their televised debate over NAFTA was based primarily on what the Reverend Ike used to call "pie in the sky by and by when you die." MacArthur expanded on that in an interview with Bill Moyers in 2007:
No, because it's just like the NAFTA side agreements in the '90s. They guaranteed all sorts of things in the side agreements: labor rights, environmental protection in Mexico. And none of it got done. Virtually none of it got done. Now, in these agreements, they're saying that these countries are suddenly going to start respecting labor rights. That countries like Peru, which can only survive by selling us their cheap labor. In other words, that's all they've got-- are going to raise their labor standards that would kill the very justification for set-- for setting up a factory in Peru. It's the same thing in Mexico. It's the same thing in China.
History insists that the only reason to believe that the TPP will be any different in this regard is if you trust the president who's currently peddling the old moonshine. And the notion that we get to see all of this monstrosity only after the Congress gives the president the power to zip it through unchanged is something of an exercise in kabuki democracy.
"I'm not adverse to continuing to engage with members of Congress or unions or anybody else in the progressive community about how we can make sure this is the strongest agreement possible," Obama concluded. "But what I am adverse to is a bunch of ad hominem attacks and misinformation that stirs up the base but ultimately doesn't serve them well. And I'm going to be pushing back very hard if I keep on hearing that."
It takes some big clanging brass ones to complain about ad hominem attacks after you've essentially just called SPW and others liars. But, more curiously, after spending six years taking all manner of distasteful and racist abuse on everything from his legislative agenda to the circumstances of his birth with amazing equanimity, the president decides that this is the issue on which he will not tolerate ad hominem attacks? That's just weird. The president has got to understand that the country has heard this before, that it has swallowed enough snake oil to gag a python, and that it is righteously skeptical of any deal this big that is being sold so hard by so many people who have proven that they do not have the best interests of most Americans at heart. That's not ad hominem. Them's the facts.
read: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a34613/the-president-overtpps/
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Probably zero. Raising labor and enviro standards in these countries would be ideal, no?
bigtree
(86,005 posts)...if you believe that will happen.
History, experience, knowledge of these countries tells us that it won't.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)What good would giving up do?
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Destroy First World regulatory standards and race to the Third World bottom so that Profits may be Increased for the billionaire class.
Make it easier for the billionaire class to move capital and jobs to wherever they want whenever they want to avoid regulations and taxes with no consequences whatsoever for doing so.
The rest is gaslight.
bigtree
(86,005 posts)...what opponents of this trade agreement are arguing is that these international trade pacts - as negotiated and crafted by corporate representatives - actually thwart efforts to mediate or prosecute environmental concerns (or a myriad of other issues) by diverting cases of abuses from courts to these compromised tribunals and actually discouraging responding to outside pressure to change behaviors in these countries.
here's a glimpse of a prominent case in Peru where investor-state treaties have provided an avenue for companies to delay or reverse agreements which had been enforceable in courts:
...Renco Group Inc., a company owned by one of the richest men in America, invested in a metal smelter in La Oroya, Peru. The site has been designated as in the top 10 most polluted in the world. The firm has been sued in U.S. court on behalf of severely lead-poisoned children in La Oroya. Sulfur dioxide concentrations at La Oroya greatly exceed international standards, with sulfur dioxide levels doubled in the years after Rencos acquisition of the complex. Rencos Peruvian subsidiary promised to install sulfur plants by 2007 as part of an environmental remediation program. Although it was out of compliance with its contractual obligations, the company sought (and Peru granted) two extraordinary extensions to complete the project.
In December 2010, Renco sent Peru a Notice of Intent that it was launching a U.S.-Peru FTA investor-state attack, alleging that Perus failure to grant a third extension of the remediation obligations constituted a violation of the firms FTA foreign investor rights. The company is demanding $800 million in compensation from Peruvian taxpayers. The Renco case illustrates two deeply worrying implications of investor-state arbitration.
Even the mere threat of a case can put pressure on governments to weaken environment and health policies. Recent developments suggest that the threat of this case was highly effective. While full environmental compliance has yet to be seen, the government has allowed the smelter to restart zinc and lead operations. That would be bad enough, but Renco is also attempting to evade justice in U.S. domestic courts through the investor-state mechanism.
Renco has now successfully argued that the U.S. lawsuit filed on behalf of La Oroyas children must be removed from a U.S. state court, where it had a decent chance of success. Renco tried to derail the case this way three times before without success. But after filing the investor-state case, the firm claimed that the matter now involved an international treaty and thus was outside the state courts remit. In January 2011, the same federal judge who rejected the past attempts determined that the existence of the investor-state case made this a federal issue and allowed Renco to terminate the state court case...
read more: http://www.citizen.org/documents/fact-sheet-tpp-and-environment.pdf
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)even against US citizens ultimately imo.
Thanks for this example.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)To date, under existing ftas, that has not been the case. It's obviously exceedingly difficult to enforce standards. Take Columbia, for example, post our fta with that country. There were high labor standard but over a hundred labor and human rights activists have been murdered. Government involvement is strongly suspected. There have been no penalties. Labor condition have not measurably improved.
cali
(114,904 posts)JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)America should continuously push for and lead the way on raising global labor and enviro standards. Sometimes progress is measured one inch at a time, and we should keep pushing for every precious inch.
cali
(114,904 posts)Of a different result. There has to be a better way. I notice you ignored the info about Columbia
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Which is what this new trade deal is supposedly address. But not pushing for higher standards will only make the situation worse for these standards.
fasttense
(17,301 posts)I'm pretty sure some of these countries have stricter labor and environmental standards than the USA.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)For example, safety of workers is given top priority
http://www.google.co.jp/search?q=安全は第一&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=ivns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=IJc8VciQDYX5mAWP_4GoBQ&ved=0CAUQ_AU
fasttense
(17,301 posts)This trade agreement is NOT bringing stricter environmental regulation to poor deluded 3rd world countries.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)deals actually did that, there would be huge amounts of evidence being displayed to show such.
Secondly, Pres Obama hasn't shown us any argument as to HOW this agreement will benefit the 99% anywhere.
Third, if someone is proposing that I give up some of my standard of living to help others, let's get busy doing that right here in River City. We are looking at cutting SS that a good share of our senior neighbors rely on.
Fourth, only a small fraction of the TPP actually deals with trade. Most of it deals with giving corporations authority to violate local environmental laws, for example. If you don't like oil trains riding thru your neighborhood 6 times a day, you can't pass laws to stop them with out the effected corporation being able to sue you. This is what the TPP does.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)The TPP is an insult to all our Vietnam veterans and especially the 50k Americans who died fighting there.
cali
(114,904 posts)At least you have some august company- and lots of it. It's getting damned crowded under there
cali
(114,904 posts)that the positions of many senators, reps, liberal writers, environmental groups, etc, who are normally lauded by those of you trusting president Obama on the tpp are being treated with contempt because they oppose it.
Come to think of it, it's not terribly hyperbolic
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Did you have someone else in mind? For a group that claims to despise idol worship, any disagreement automatically leads to being thrown under the bus? Hyperbole indeed, unless you can show who is throwing Pierce under the bus?
kentuck
(111,110 posts)He is too young to retire.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)they rendered to the billionaire class and wants in on the same action after he leaves the WH. He sure as shit doesn't want to end up building Habitat for Humanity houses with Jimmy Carter. He has a nest to feather.
BeanMusical
(4,389 posts)SMC22307
(8,090 posts)UFB.
And this is rather perplexing:
sybylla
(8,526 posts)Weird is an understatement as far as I'm concerned. I was fully prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt until he started eating his own party members over this.
Now my spidey sense is telling me there is something very wrong here.
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)I'm not ready to make nice with the likes of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, FFS. Something is very, very wrong.
Nay
(12,051 posts)My alarm bell went off, too, just listening to what Pres. Obama REALLY cares about.
appalachiablue
(41,168 posts)DirkGently
(12,151 posts)"Go read the kajillion-page agreement" doesn't really track when all the arguments to approve it boil down to "Shut up and get out of the way."
This is one of those moments where our leaders sound like pod people. Suddenly angry and terse weirdly infuriated that the actual constituency of their office has popped its collective head up and asked,
"What's going on here?"
It is the biggest of red flags when monied interests uniformly want something gigantic, done quickly, with a minimum of discussion. That is not a scenario that leads to benefits for the common good. People working for the common good invite discussion. Tout key features of the proposal in specific terms. Engage in debate.
This is a screw job, period, or it wouldn't be handled this way.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)Exactly. When you're being rushed and pressured, it's never a good sign.
GoneFishin
(5,217 posts)con played out in real life on a local level. It is a signature move when a con artist has had ample time to examine all the angles but his pigeon has had no time or little time to assess a legal matter before signing on the dotted line.
The big final push usually involves convincing the pigeon that :
1) time is running out and they must act quickly or there will be some horrible consequence, or
2) the end result is inevitable so weighing alternatives is a waste of time and money, so just sign.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)... doesn't it?
So why do we pretend we don't?
salib
(2,116 posts)truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)There is no other conclusion to be reached.
GoneFishin
(5,217 posts)GoneFishin
(5,217 posts)ybbor
(1,555 posts)They both pull no punches and tell it like it is, though the Rude one uses more expletives.
I do love them both!
Orrex
(63,220 posts)They should be required to produce a 1,000-word essay on the nature and history of kabuki, what it means, and how the modern political environment does or does not reflect this theatrical style.
Each person must produce a new and unique essay and must be prepared to field questions on the subject. Failure to demonstrate suitable knowledge of the subject thereafter bars the speaker from using "kabuki" in describing modern politics for one full year.
The same goes for "kafkaesque."
bigtree
(86,005 posts)Depaysement
(1,835 posts)Pierce uses it as combination of elaborate and bizarre. Not far off the original meaning, imho.
Fairgo
(1,571 posts)If I recall correctly, Kabuki was inspire by a form of puppet theatre. The Kabuki actor's stylised performance is, in a poetic sense, a human playing the role of a puppet in ahuman drama. I'd say this metaphor is even more appropriate than its cursory application.
MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)same letters, rearranged with one extra thrown in.
It doesn't really change the meaning of the headline that much, though.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Exquisite.
BeanMusical
(4,389 posts)moondust
(20,002 posts)I'd be skeptical about real-world enforcement over such a broad region, especially if "lots of drivers just ignore the 55 mph speed limit." Who's going to pay for all the enforcement--taxpayers? Corporations with billions in cash sitting around may not be deterred from bad practices by measly fines; BP is still in business after their unspeakable disaster and fines. And apparently big banks are back to business as usual after their debacles. If some corporation finds a more profitable deal in China are they really going to turn it down because of some set of ethereal "rules"? Or will they find a way around the rules instead? Maybe some bribes and threats carrots and sticks? Corporations Are Legally Required To Maximize Profits
BeanMusical
(4,389 posts)pa28
(6,145 posts)This week's attacks on liberal critics have done more to raise awareness about TPP than anything in the last two years.
polichick
(37,152 posts)cui bono
(19,926 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)I think he was against citizens,
united.
Duppers
(28,125 posts)quadrature
(2,049 posts)Congress, and other legislatures,
are unwelcome.
I don't like that.
Fla Dem
(23,731 posts)Petition to make public the TPP at Whitehouse.gov
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-public-entire-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-pact-allowing-our-us-representative-agree-its-terms
ibegurpard
(16,685 posts)with the ACA
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)of about $190 thousand annually with some other perks thrown in like secret service protection. He averages more than $10 million a year making speeches on the same circuit President Obama will join when he retires, unless he fails to come through on these trade deals. The speech circuit will be his real pension. George Bush is doing pretty well for himself giving speeches to people with deep pockets too, and you can sure as hell bet it isn't because he has anything worthwhile to say. Always follow the money.
elzenmahn
(904 posts)...1,000 times!!!!
Skittles
(153,174 posts)excellent read
MisterP
(23,730 posts)eridani
(51,907 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)of other corporate friendly policies. His entire term has been a corporate wet dream.The pushback is long overdue
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)Bought and paid for by every shareholder in the corporations twisting our moral arc towards maximizing profit for themselves. Even in the face of assured & mutual oblivion.
They finance the sets, writers & players. They sing & dance bring us joy, forget our troubles and appease our tired minds.
It is only after the lights have gone down and the make-up has come off that one will see the lines on the face and the sadness in the eyes.
The show must go on.
uknotes
(2 posts)A recent article called the TPP debate "Kabuki Democracy" ... it's that at least, and probably institutionalized crony capitalism that entrenches massive corporate economic distortions ...
Consider:
I CANNOT READ IT, others cannot report on it, BUT corporate lobbyists CAN and do and have been part of the negotiating process for years. Who is my representative in the process? Surely "We the people" are supposed to be in charge ?!?
Take an example like PATENTS, which were originated to allow the small inventor to compete with big guys. Now they are owned by massive corporations who use their ROYAL WARRANTS to MONOPOLIZE, TROLL and colonize the new worlds. (Think 16th Century Europe).
Further, inventors are required to turn these PATENTS over to corporations through employment and subcontractor contracts. So education, invention turn into work for hire, labor arbitrage and restricted future employment opportunities. There is NO RETURN to the SMALL INVENTOR who really drives INNOVATION ...
I suspect the TPP will enshrine this crony distorted Patent system permanently into International Property Law ...
BUT who really knows in this Kabuki democracy? Fast track is simply pretending we have any influence on a barrel going over Niagara Falls once it's in the maelstrom !!!
Clean up this process and let's know what is going on
Your constituent, ...