trading down

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billy.pilgrim
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trading down

Unread post by billy.pilgrim »

nafta, crafta, shafta. tpp-onyou etc

the right remains so freaked out about agenda 21 bike paths, the UN and sharia law and any number of other non-existent examples of the US submitting top foreign dictates, but loves these corporate trade deals that destroy jobs and remove our ability to prevent toxic materials from making us sick and ruining our environment

until now nafta hasn't stepped above US law, but it is no longer permissible for the US to require county of origin labeling on meat - seems mexico thinks some people might select US over mexicanmade.

nafta - brough to us by hw bush and his new world order

tpp - about to allow the same insanity to be aimed at us from Vietnam (home of the agent orange tilapia and napalm pond shrimp), from the republicon congress and from Obama (I told you he was a closet republicon way back when he made the bush tax cut to the rich permanent)

had these types of lowest common denominator trade agreements been in place in the 70s - a Vietnam type country could have prevented us from outlawing ddt or lead paint - no more - proof to some made up world trade court and all our knowledge of harm falls flat to a 3rd world countries profits.
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rstrong
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Re: trading down

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until now nafta hasn't stepped above US law, but it is no longer permissible for the US to require county of origin labeling on meat
First, that's not new; treating North America as one market was part of the deal back in 1993 and the Canada-US free trade agreement in 1988. What's new-ish is that a decade ago - like with wheat, lumber, trucking and manufactured goods - the US simply decided to not honor the agreement. And it took a decade to settle in the arbitration court.

In Canada a trade agreement becomes the law of the land. In the US it can be overridden by cities, states, judges and more. You worry about "Vietnam type countries?" How about a country where a treaty signed with it isn't worth the paper it's written on? Where its word is only as good as that of a Nigerian prince contacting you by email?

It's all about protectionism of course. I was living in a farming community in Manitoba when these rules were enacted. A large percentage of the cattle went to US slaughterhouses. But because the slaughterhouses had no way to keep US and Canadian herds separate, they simply stopped accepting Canadian cattle.

Worse, because the US slaughterhouses had long been there, there wasn't capacity in the Canadian slaughterhouses to make up for it. The effect on farmers was devastating. Even the local trucking companies were letting people go because of it.

Not that the protectionism was to help American consumers either. With durham wheat the US government was heavily subsidizing exports. So all the American durham wheat was exported, creating a shortage within the country. Which drove prices way up. And so when Canadian durham wheat was cheaper, American distributers being undercut naturally declared that it must be subsidized by the Canadian government. And so they lobbied a senator to have steep tariffs added to Canadian wheat, knowing full well that while they'd lose in the arbitration court, it would take a decade.

It's the same deal with lumber. The claim was that Canada had a "unfair subsidy" because the government didn't charge logging companies as much per acre to log on public land. But it ignored that the government was charging far more in other taxes.

Second, NAFTA does not step above US law. It *IS* US law, ratified by a majority of Congress.

Third, for whatever the US gains in sovereignty, it GAINS in power over other countries. NAFTA for example gives the US equal access to Canadian oil. Thanks to TPP, Canada just extended its copyright terms by 20 years. Without consulting the Canadian people, knowing full well that they'd disagree. That's not the other countries driving that demand in the TPP - it's strictly America demanding it.

Fourth, and here's where the differences start: You won't be able to claim that the TPP was ratified by Congress with any degree of honesty, because unlike NAFTA it's being kept a secret up to and including ratification. Yes, someone from Congress can read it. Only if they go the USTR office. Alone. They can't copy anything, take any notes, or even bring staff experts on trade agreements or related issues.) And they're threatened with criminal prosecution if they tell anyone what they read. Your Representative's top cleared staff can hear all about ISIS, but not the TPP.

Fifth, and this explains the fourth, the TPP isn't really a trade deal. The trade barriers between the countries involved are pretty much all long gone. (America excepted of course, when inconvenient.) It's an intellectual property and investment deal - benefitting corporations and NOT the workers or consumers - with trade as the Trojan horse.

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Re: trading down

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Vrede too
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Re: trading down

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Obama To Upgrade Malaysia On Human Rights Despite Mass Graves

The Obama administration will remove Malaysia from its official list of the world's worst human trafficking offenders, according to Reuters, a move human rights advocates fear will damage U.S. credibility.

The maneuver would allow the administration to continue negotiating a controversial trade agreement with Malaysia and 10 other Pacific nations. Legislation authored by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) effectively bars the U.S. from enacting trade deals with countries deemed "Tier 3" violators of human trafficking standards -- the worst of the worst in the State Department's formal reckoning of governments that facilitate modern-day slavery.

Malaysia earned its spot on that list, alongside Iran and North Korea, from years of human trafficking, including rampant sex slavery and forced labor in the agriculture and the textile industries, according to 2014 State Department documents. Malaysia's electronics industry also is rife with forced labor. This year, mass graves for trafficking victims were discovered in Malaysia near its northern border with Thailand.

Reuters reports that Malaysia will soon be upgraded to a "Tier 2" country, allowing it to sidestep the ban imposed by the Menendez legislation. The State Department said it does not comment on its human trafficking list before it is formally issued. In a statement to HuffPost, Menendez said the maneuver would undermine the international legitimacy of America's human rights efforts.

"If true, this manipulation of Malaysia’s ranking in the State Department’s 2015 TIP report would be a perversion of the trafficking list and undermine both the integrity of this important report as well as the very difficult task of confronting states about human trafficking," Menendez said in the statement. "The deplorable human trafficking crisis in Malaysia merits a global cry for action and justice -- not an attempt to sweep them under the rug for political expediency." ...
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billy.pilgrim
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Re: trading down

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As I've said since March 2009, obama ain't nothing but a closet repug
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Re: trading down

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billy.pilgrim wrote:As I've said since March 2009, obama ain't nothing but a closet repug
You could have stopped at the word 'nothing'. You just slurred Republicans.
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Re: trading down

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billy.pilgrim wrote:
the right remains so freaked out about agenda 21 bike paths, the UN and sharia law and any number of other non-existent examples of the US submitting top foreign dictates, but loves these corporate trade deals that destroy jobs and remove our ability to prevent toxic materials from making us sick and ruining our environment
Who are you talking about? I have yet to meet anybody "right" or "left" who knows anything about the TPP and thought it was a good idea. I live in a TPP country (outside the U.S. not in the Northern Hemisphere). We figured out already that if it passes it'll allow corporations to loot the country. The last time that happened ('50s, '60s), the people rebelled and elected a communist. He was overthrown and they ended up under a military dictatorship. So here we go again. Who was it that said that the one thing we learn from history is that nobody ever learns anything from history?

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Re: trading down

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Seth Milner wrote:
billy.pilgrim wrote:As I've said since March 2009, obama ain't nothing but a closet repug
You could have stopped at the word 'nothing'. You just slurred Republicans.
Ummm, the Republicans are far more in favor of the TPP than the Dems.
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billy.pilgrim
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Re: trading down

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Vrede too wrote:
Seth Milner wrote:
billy.pilgrim wrote:As I've said since March 2009, obama ain't nothing but a closet repug
You could have stopped at the word 'nothing'. You just slurred Republicans.
Ummm, the Republicans are far more in favor of the TPP than the Dems.
not to mention it is impossible to slur a repug
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Re: trading down

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October 6, 2015

Thank you for contacting me with your concerns regarding Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). As your representative in Washington, I want to ensure that your opinion is heard and appreciate that you took the time to write to me.

TPA is legislation that outlines the parameters and criteria that the Executive Branch must address when negotiating any free trade agreements. While it does not automatically authorize trade agreements and Congress must still consider each agreement individually as negotiations are completed, members of Congress will not be able to offer amendments to change the terms of any final free trade agreement that comes before Congress for a vote. Rather, TPA allows the President to submit a trade agreement to Congress for solely an up or down vote.

As you may know, there are two major regional free trade agreements currently in consideration, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Together, these agreements would amount to over 60% of global GDP. However, my main concerns remain the interests of businesses and consumers in Western North Carolina and making sure Congress continues to have a voice in this matter.

On June 12, 2015, TPA passed in the House by a vote of 219-211. After closely monitoring H.R. 1314 and hearing from my constituents, I made the decision to vote against this bill. While I generally support trade, I had concerns about relying on the Obama Administration to adequately enforce the terms of the bill. Furthermore, TPA is difficult to remove once it has been designated, meaning Congress would lack the ability to oversee the process as they should....

Sincerely,
Mark Meadows
Member of Congress (R-NC11)
Well, he made it about Obama, of course :roll: , and more is at stake than just "the interests of businesses and consumers in Western North Carolina", but still, correct vote. :thumbup:

Say NO to the TPP.

Stop NAFTA on steroids
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Re: trading down

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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Re: trading down

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Stop the Trans Pacific Partnership: Tell Congress: Oppose “NAFTA on steroids” (petition)

Stop the Trans Pacific Partnership: Tell Congress: Oppose “NAFTA on steroids”

In a matter of days, President Obama will launch his final push to pressure Congress to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It’s a secretive trade deal that has been called "NAFTA on steroids" – and for good reason.

During his last State of the Union address on January 12, President Obama will make his case for a "trade" deal that would eviscerate broad swaths of regulations that protect consumers, workers, the environment and the soundness of our financial system. And, it would set up a legal regime where corporate profits trump the policy priorities of sovereign governments.

With the text of the deal now public even some key Republicans who supported Fast Track authority for approving the TPP are now saying they cannot support the trade deal as it stands.(1) That means the President currently does not have the votes to pass the TPP. We need to keep it that way and thwart any momentum toward passage of the TPP in this Congress.

We can jump start our campaign to stop this corporate power grab by making our voices heard as loudly as possible in advance of the State of the Union next week.

Tell Congress: Time to stand up and oppose the TPP.

In November we finally got to see what’s inside the TPP – and it’s even worse than we thought. If Congress ratifies this agreement more, American jobs would be offshored. Internet freedom would be a joke. Developing countries would lose access to lifesaving medicines. Unsafe foods and products could pour into our country while we’re powerless to stop them. The deal includes countries notorious for severe violations of human rights, but the term “human rights” does not appear in the 5,600 pages of the TPP. And, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The administration’s spin about the TPP being the most progressive trade treaty ever is not based in reality. Don’t take our word for it. Here is what Doctors Without Borders said about the TPP:

The TPP is a bad deal for medicine: it’s bad for humanitarian medical treatment providers such as MSF [Medecins Sans Frontieres, Doctors Without Borders], and it’s bad for people who need access to affordable medicines around the world, including in the United States.(2)

Tell Congress: Oppose the TPP.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has also sounded the alarm about the TPP. She previously warned that trade deals like the TPP could provide an opportunity for “banks to get something done quietly out of sight that they could not accomplish in a public place with the cameras rolling and the lights on.”(3)

Indeed, the TPP includes provisions that would severely hamstring the ability of governments to stem the next banking crisis. Other provisions would allow multinational corporations to push back when governmental regulations cut into corporate profits by suing governments in foreign courts staffed by corporate lawyers.

While Congress cannot amend or filibuster the TPP, they do still have to vote yes or no on it. Already some Republicans have come out against this awful deal, so if we are able to confront the big money interests behind this treaty with an onslaught of grassroots opposition, we can win.

Sign the petition: Tell Congress: Oppose the TPP.

Thank you for speaking out. Your activism matters.

Russell Berman, “Republicans Sour on Obama's Trade Pact”, The Atlantic, October 5, 2015.
Statement by MSF on the Official Release of the Full Text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement,” Médecins Sans Frontières, November 5, 2015.
Kate Davidson, "Elizabeth Warren: Trade talks could weaken bank oversight,” Politico, May 8, 2013.
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Re: trading down

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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1312. ETTD.

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rstrong
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Re: trading down

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The Trudeau government has announced that they're signing the TPP along with all the other countries on Thursday. The claim is that it's mostly a PR exercise, that it doesn't take effect until ratification.

Of course ratification is "so last century", thanks to the magic of "Provisional Application."

UNESCO Glossary: Provisional Application
The growing use of provisional application clauses in treaties is a consequence of the need felt to give effect to treaty obligations prior to a state’s formal ratification of / accession to a treaty....
Europe's 1994 Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) included investor rights provisions. When Germany recently decided to phase out nuclear power stations - reducing Swedish company Vattenfall's future profits - Vattenfall used the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism to claim €3.7 billion. This is why the German press is so sensitive to investor rights provisions in treaties today.

Meanwhile, Russia, Belarus, Iceland, Norway and Australia signed the ECT, but have never ratified it. In 2009 Russia announced its decision to not become a Contracting Party to it and officially withdrew from the ECT. Those countries are still bound by their ECT commitments. Article 45 (3) (b) states that "In the event that a signatory terminates provisional application…any Investments made in its Area during such provisional application by Investors of other signatories shall nevertheless remain in effect with respect to those Investments for twenty years following the effective date of termination."

In 2004 the Russian government stole/nationalized the Yukos Oil Company, which had foreign investors. In 2014 the ECT dispute arbitration tribunal ordered the Russian Federation to pay damages in excess of USD 50 Billion (with a B) to Yukos shareholders. Plus USD 60 million in legal fees and EUR 4.2 million in arbitration costs. It was the largest arbitration award in history.

Remember, this is for a treaty that Russia did not ratify. (citation)

CETA, the new Canada-EU free trade treaty widely seen as the model for a US-EU treaty - has similar rules. Once CETA is made public for ratification, if Canadians or EU citizens are opposed and decide not to ratify it, they're still bound by it for further three years. The Canadian government - that is, the taxpayers - can still be sued if they pass or enforce any law that harms investors, from the time of signing to the time of deciding not to ratify, plus three years after. If they later withdraw from the treaty, they're bound for a further 20 years.

Fortunately this has been derailed by some countries in the EU, and there's some renegotiations going on. (Derailed because it's now expected to become the model for the US-EU deal.)

Countries are being bound by treaties - clauses dictated by large corporations who are allowed in on the negotiations - before elected officials ever have a chance to look at them.

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Re: trading down

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Bastards.
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Re: trading down

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rstrong wrote:The Trudeau government has announced that they're signing the TPP along with all the other countries on Thursday.
er, Thursday in New Zealand. The 12 countries just had the signing ceremony.

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Re: trading down

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Tell Congress: Don't undermine our climate protections. Reject the toxic TPP!

As Tax Day approaches, what if we told you a portion of your taxes, about $100 of each individual tax return in the U.S., could end up in the pockets of TransCanada executives?

Multinational corporations are increasingly using investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), a little-known set of rules in trade deals, to retaliate against countries that enact climate protections or reject dirty fossil fuel projects. After President Obama’s rejection of Keystone XL, for example, TransCanada unveiled plans to use rules in the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to sue the United States in a private trade tribunal to the tune of $15 billion.

Our new report details how the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), two looming trade deals, would make matters worse. Protections against fracking, offshore drilling, dirty pipelines, and fossil fuel extraction on public lands would increasingly come under fire by multinational corporations, seeking “compensation” for policies that hurt their bottom lines.

Tell Congress: Don’t undermine our climate protections. Reject the toxic TPP!
Which bathroom would TransCanada use in HB2 NC?
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Re: trading down

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Thank you for contacting me with your concerns regarding Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). As your representative in Washington, I want to ensure that your opinion is heard and appreciate that you took the time to write to me.

On April 17, 2015, Representative Paul Ryan (WI-1) introduced H.R. 1890, the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015. This legislation outlines the parameters and criteria that the Executive Branch must address when negotiating any free trade agreements. It does not automatically authorize trade agreements, and Congress must still consider each agreement individually as negotiations are completed. Before the completed agreements go into effect, they must be approved by Congress, but members of Congress will not be able to offer amendments to change the terms of the free trade agreement.

There are two major regional free trade agreements currently in consideration, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Together, these agreements would amount to over 60% of global GDP. However, my main concerns remain the interests of businesses and consumers in Western North Carolina and making sure Congress continues to have a voice in this matter. Please know that I am closely monitoring H.R. 1890, and will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind should this legislation come to the House floor....

Sincerely,
Mark Meadows
Member of Congress (R-NC11)
Apparently, he has little concern for "the interests of" America as a whole, workers, the environment and human rights.
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Re: trading down

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NC's Tillis (R) is worse:
Subject: Response from Senator Tillis
From: "Senator Thom Tillis" <donotreply@tillis.senate.gov>
Date: Thu, June 2, 2016 2:59 pm

Dear (Vrede too):

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts about the proposed
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. I appreciate hearing
from you.

As you know, President Obama recently announced that the United States
reached an agreement with eleven partner countries, concluding
negotiation of the TPP. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has
formally proposed tobacco carve-out language in the TPP, a provision
that would single out a specific agricultural product and strip it of
rights afforded to all other agricultural products in the trade
agreement. Breaking the long-standing tradition of not picking winners
and losers in trade agreements, the Obama Administration has decided to
use the TPP as a laboratory for partisan politics by discriminating
against specific agricultural commodities. This sets a dangerous
precedent for future trade agreements and represents an existential
threat to our vital tobacco and other related industries.

While reasonable people can disagree over the benefits of free trade
and open markets, this particular trade deal is unacceptable. I will
not only vote against the TPP, but I have promised publicly to work to
defeat its ratification in the Senate....

Sincerely,
Thom Tillis
U.S. Senator
I appreciate your opposition to the TPP, but basing it on a defense of a product that kills tens of millions is about as creepy and unpatriotic as it gets.

(Vrede too)
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Re: trading down

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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