General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Without endorsing TPP, some things to consider about it. [View all]cali
(114,904 posts)regarding why Chinese economic and thus political power, will increase.
The draft chapters are late drafts and both the WH and USTR have said that there are only a few issues remaining to be worked out. Have they changed? That's possible, but so much was wrong in these chapters (read the joint analysis by the WWF, NRDC and the Sierra Club on the environmental chapter) and the process was evidently so flawed (according to foreign sources; tpp nation-partner leaks) as well as process document leaks, that it's difficult to see a whole lot changing. For instance, within the intellectual property rights chapeter are extended patents for pharmaceutical companies. It's called "greening" and it makes producing generics much more difficult- which oddly enough- benefits China (I posted a thread about this). The U.S. pushed for this. The U.S. is very unlikely to have changed it- and President Obama has obliquely referred to it and defended it.
As for the environment, oceans and overfishing are one big honking problem, and that doesn't impact just one nation. And in the past, the prime offenders of environmental health have been corporations. And some of it has been truly gruesome.
Look, I advise you to do a lot of research- read the draft chapters and analysis of them. Read analysis of the new 114 page tpa. Read about ISDS cases in Central and South America. Read the pro stuff- from the USTR, the White House and other sources.
Oh, and here's Al Gore and Perot's debate, in which Gore uses arguments we hear echoed in today's debate.