The Trans-Pacific Partnership Legalizes Corporate Rights Prevailing Over Human Rights Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) calls what is known of the framework of the secretively negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a punch in the face to the middle class. TPP is bad for working families, because, like nearly every other trade agreement that’s been negotiated by the U.S. in the past 20 years, TPP isn’t concerned with U.S. workers or jobs. Every other nation starts out with jobs and the economy as priorities. The U.S. unfortunately has a different focus, and looks at trade in terms of national security and global corporate interests, not ensuring the economic well-being of working families. The basic premise of free trade is to allow global companies to move freely between borders to exploit low wage labor, be free from any but the most minimal environmental standards, not be subject to lawsuits in many areas, and move corporate bank accounts around the world to achieve the lowest taxation possible. The TPP is being negotiated without any transparency whatsoever. Its being hammered out in secret because there is an obvious fear that too many citizens and advocacy groups would be in an uproar about how it globalizes corporations to supercede sovereignty at the expense of workers, human rights, the environment, taxpayer subsidies for offshoring jobs, and many more provisions that betray the interests of all but corporations.--Mark Karlin, Truthout/BuzzFlash Truthout/BuzzFlash staffers are members of the Newspaper Guild of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), and so issues affecting workers are personally important to them.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 16:58:33 +0000
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