Secret negotiations between the U.S.
Government, “trade advisors” from roughly 600 U.S. corporations
and 11 Pacific Rim countries are well underway to construct a trade
agreement that, if it passes, threatens to undermine global food
safety, millions of jobs, the health of the population, the
environment and many of our constitutional rights. It’s worth
mentioning the primary architects of this agreement are the usual
suspects: Monsanto, Bank of America, Halliburton, Chevron, PHRMA and
Wall Street finance companies. Another critical thing to mention is
if the TPP passes, it will give corporations more power than
governments. For example, the TPP could eliminate a government's
prerogative to determine whether the mass export of natural gas to
TPP countries (aka, “investor states”) - including Japan, the
world's largest natural gas importer - is in the public interest. The
resulting surge in natural gas exports would not only raise gas and
electricity prices for consumers, but would ramp up the dangerous,
chemical-laden practice of fracking, and the government and the
citizens will not have a leg to stand on. Furthermore, through the
"investor-state" system, the TPP would allow corporations
operating in TPP countries to launch a case against domestic
environmental laws that they see as restricting "expected future
profits." In a nutshell, governments will be sued if they
attempt to stop a corporation from directly polluting their resources
and the corporation will be compensated for its loss by the
tax-payers.
Foreign governments have already
paid over $3 billion to foreign corporations in investor-state
disputes under existing U.S. trade and investment deals. Understand,
these rulings come from independent, “investor-state” tribunals
and they override government court rulings.
As if making a conscious decision to
poison and starve people to death by further destroying the
environment and threatening global food safety isn’t enough, it
will threaten jobs far beyond what NAFTA (North American Free-Trade
Agreement) and the WTO (World Trade Organization) achieved. It’s
been revealed that provisions will actually encourage corporations to
off-shore more jobs by providing special privileges and eliminating
the usual risks that would make a firm think twice before moving jobs
to low-wage countries To quickly recap, nearly five million American
manufacturing jobs have been lost since implementation of the NAFTA
and the WTO. Since NAFTA, over 60,000 American manufacturing
facilities have closed. The TPP would replicate and expand on the
NAFTA model. The suggestion that TPP will encourage job growth is a
blatant lie and we have the repercussions of NAFTA and the WTO to
validate this. What it will do is further reduce
wages, devastate the tax base which has a direct, negative impact on
funding social services and infrastructure, and escalate inequality.
All this is just the tip of the
iceberg. The TPP threatens public health and access to
pharmaceuticals, financial regulations, internet freedom, workers’
rights and any hope for democracy. All of this is being done in
secret with the entire text and negotiation process being done behind
closed doors, away from the public and away from Congress. The push
by the Executive Powers to Fast-Track the TPP adds to just how severe
a threat this is. If Fast Track passes, it will allow the Executive
powers to frame this agreement with no input from Congress, leaving
them to simply vote up or down, meaning there will be no revisions or
amendments.
It’s imperative for every American
to contact their representatives, immediately and demand they vote NO
to Fast Track and NO to the TPP. To find your representative:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
