The reason I think Bernie is being kept out of media coverage actually goes back 20+ years

[Baobab]

In the 1990s, the enactment of several intentionally convoluted and difficult to understand trade deals committed the US to the pushing of a global agenda that excludes (as far as I can tell) all (!) of Bernie Sanders platform issues from even being possible, and puts them on the table as bait to use to get other countries to agree to policy changes which we want, such as abolishing their own public services systems and things like constitutional rights to quality health care and education, and replacing them with the allagedly 'successful' US privatized health care and education system. In exchange, the developed countries are being asked to make deeper concessions on trade, and put more on the table, such as so called Mode Four concessions, (jobs) in new trade deals - particularly one that's almost completed the Trade in Services Agreement" which uses a 'negative list" to include all service sectors and "modes of supply" (such as Mode Four) by default, unless a service sector is explicitly"carved out" - in advance, in the "service schedule" filed with the agreement when it is signed, which could be any day now..

So, teams of Americans who represent the public need to be attempting to get these 'carve outs' into these service sectors in the scheduling agreements, now!

This deal is very similar to the 1994 General Agreement on Trade in Services which we signed in 1995, so one can get some idea of the issues involved by looking at the Indian press over the last year, for example, they had to give up the right to free education. In exchange they likely will be able to gain a lot of help from the services liberalisation - it will make it much easier for Indian staffing firms to do business here and elsewhere. They can offer very inexpensive staffing services which likely will be very controversial but unable to change at that point, forever. Obviously New Deal tye stimulus will then become impossible because spending money on infrastructure wont result in the level of local hiring that would have occurrred before the changes which are occurring, which began in 1994 but which stalled repeatedly (The Doha Development Agenda was in part about this but the foreign media made a great effort to keep the jobs part out of the media coverage and the US press does not say a peep about this already. The US media blackout on everything related to these deals is likely the root cause of the lack of coverage of the Bernie Sanders campaign because so many of the planks in his platform are proposed as if the GATS and WTO did not exist!

Which makes it a potential hook that the media fears to cover because no doubt they are afraid talking about single payer would lead to questions about GATS, WTO and TiSA (as well as TTIP and TPP)

This roadblock to serious discssion of these important issues should be the #1 issue for Sanders supporters.. but so far hasn't been seen at all because of efforts by both party leaderships, media, and others I am sure to prevent discussion of it at all. But the crazy ideology behind this, and the existing and pending almost completed secret deals are the real cause of almost all of our crazy, unworkable policies. For example, they are why health care is stuck, and can never get better, as doing that in any way other than globalizing and crapifying health care (which would maintain the high profits and class structure) would violate these deals ideology.

So to get the media blockade on Sanders ended this set of facts has to become known, first. Of course the entire 2007-2009 events were arguably invalidated as far as being a debate without any discussion of this core issue.

----------The impact of services liberalisation on US workers will likely be devastating as wages will be undercut very greatly by the subcontracting firms low wages_________

In countries that don't have really strong unions, such as the US what that will mean to a service sector like K12 education or higher education will be a massive increase in subcontracting by international firms down to the local level, with "disciplines on domestic regulations" which will make us make that transition to globalized competitive bidding for contracts happen on a massive scale. What that means is that millions of Americans will gradually be replaced by much lower paid replacements from developing countries, many of them have advanced educations, and will work for much much less. Since they are temps, its not immigration. We have to adjust whatever rules or laws stand in the way so they are "no more burdensome than necessary to ensure the quality of the service" In exchange many huge US multinational corporations will be able to open branches and factories in other countries in the developing world and be treated as if they are a local company, by law. That is called "National Treatment" Also, more other countries corporations will have to be treated as well as we treat any other country. "Most Favored Nation" Additionally, companies from poorer countries (LDCs) will have extra rights such as the right to discriminate against firms from non-LDC countries to some extent by adopting a slower timetable for the 'progressive liberalisation' (one way irreversible privatization) of their public services.
Thank you.

here is the preamble to a obscure document released by the EU that outlines TiSA. Note that the preambles to all these agreements are non-binding ad sometimes deceptive- Only the actual text is binding..

--------------------


6891/13 ADD 1 DC/asz 2 -

DG C 1 RESTREINT UE/EU RESTRICTED EN (Declassified last year in Brussels, 10 March 2015)
(OR. en) 6891/13 - ADD 1 DCL 1 - WTO 53 - SERVICES 11 - FDI 4 - OC 96 (location in WTO document hierarchy)

Draft Directives for the negotiation of a plurilateral agreement on trade in services


A. NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE AGREEMENT
On substance, the agreement should achieve essentially the same objectives as set out in the Council
Conclusions of October 1999 (12092/99 WTO 131), i.e. the agreement should be comprehensive,
ambitious, should aim at reducing existing imbalances and be fully consistent with World Trade
Organisation (WTO) rights and obligations, notably with regard to the WTO General Agreement on
Trade in Services (GATS). The negotiations should be conducted and concluded with due regard to
rights and obligations under the WTO, taking into account the elements for political guidance of the
8th WTO Ministerial Conference by respecting the principles of transparency and inclusiveness.

In detail, the agreement should seek to bind, in general, the autonomous level of liberalisation of the
parties and provide for opportunities through negotiations for improved market access. The
agreement should also be comprehensive and comply with the requirements of GATS Article V in
terms of sectoral and mode of supply coverage. New and enhanced regulatory disciplines based on
proposals by the parties should be developed during the negotiations.

The agreement should take account of the fact that not all WTO-members are participating in the
negotiations. To prevent an automatic and unconditional multilateralisation of the agreement based
on the effect of the most-favoured-nation principle laid down in GATS Article II:1, the plurilateral
services agreement needs to fulfil the conditions of an Economic Integration Agreement pursuant to
GATS Article V, i.e. have a substantial sectoral coverage and provide for the elimination of existing
discriminatory measures and/or the prohibition of new or more discriminatory measures. The
agreement shall be built on the GATS to ensure a smooth future incorporation of the plurilateral
services agreement into the GATS and it shall incorporate GATS core articles. The agreement shall
provide for market access (GATS Article XVI) for services sectors in the same way as
commitments are undertaken, under GATS. It could go beyond GATS by providing for a horizontal
discipline for national treatment (GATS Article XVII) that would be applied in principle to all

sectors and modes of supply, subject to exemptions. In line with the Council Conclusions of 1999,
by applying this horizontal formula subject to exemptions, the negotiations would be more efficient
and would maximise the results. The agreement should have an overall architecture conducive to its
future multilateralisation and set out the mechanisms and conditions of accession and future
multilateralisation. To ensure that the parties observe mutually agreed rules and commitments, the
agreement shall include an effective dispute settlement mechanism. Due regard shall be given to the
dispute settlement mechanism provided for in the WTO Agreement. The European Union will
ensure that the Union and its Member States maintain the possibility to preserve and develop their
capacity to define and implement cultural and audiovisual policies for the purposes of preserving
their cultural diversity. The high quality of the EU's public utilities should be preserved in
accordance with the TFEU and in particular Protocol N° 26 on Services of General Interest, and
taking into account the EU's commitments in this area, including the GATS.

[tk2kewl]

1. Baobab... I am so glad you have come to DU

Thank you!

[snagglepuss]

2. "crapifying health care" You're a terrific writer. The thing about

these deals is that they are so extreme , for instance forcing India to give up free education (absolutely jaw dropping) that it's easy to think that one simply has not understood them.


Thanks so much for posting.

[Baobab]

6. Reasons why we can read about this in India, now - kind of interesting

So, you bring up India, but we should realize, India is a fluke, in a sense because GATS is old news, so old that Americans have mostly grown up not realizing its been there, and we are fed other explanations for everything and even if they dont quite make sense, like the health care mess, they are repeated so many times, something that people from other counties dont know so - at least up until now, we have had people from other countries all assuming we know at least something about neoliberalism, but Americans ho have lived here our entire lives, unless we read external news stories, its quite likely we might not.

Even academia by and large does not know about the important, basic things about these deals.

Think about it. how huge a thing this scheme is.

That its been hid is basically because they have bought off the poor countries, promising them lots of jobs.

Maybe that has worked up until now but their patience is getting thin. And the scheme is a house of cards in every sense of the word.

India may not be the last really big country to sign on.. but it must be the las English speaking country to do so.. by far..

Basically almost all of the other "countries of size" signed on to this scheme long ago and seems as if they successfully kept it out of the media almost completely and still do now...


So why India?

maybe because India actually had a Constitutional right to education- but also because of the delay, they waited until after the Internet Age had made all this stuff findable and readable and also, the educated people in India all speak English, it seems oftentimes, being like us a former British colony.

Which brings me to my being a horrible writer. See what I mean?

that is what makes it unique because you simply wont find that kind of meta-discussion anywhere else because the people who did it all agreed in advance to not discuss it at all.

its as they said in that movie, "a glitch"

A glitch that shows us whats really going on.


----

So... A horrible writer.

Not just bad, really bad.

I also never thought I would become an Internet crazy person.

------

[pberq]

3. K&R

[Ivan Kaputski]

4. Ah well in Russia we control the media. The USA is just following us.

CCCP
"It's just business" - The Mob

[Baobab]

7. "co-dependent"

We have always been at war with {Eurasia|Eastasia}

[abelenkpe]

5. K&R