Former U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said that if the people knew what was in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it would be impossible to get it signed. The Obama administration is going to great lengths to make sure that people do not know what is in the TPP before it gets signed into law, and have made “fast tracking” the TPP bill a top priority.
January 22 marked the beginning of a ten-day push by groups who work on a wide variety of issues to stop Congress from granting the President Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The push culminates in an Intercontinental Day of Action against the TPP on Jan 31 with events and actions being planned all around the world.
The TPP has been called NAFTA on steroids, and if you hate the concept of corporate personhood, consider that if the TPP passes, we will all be getting used to the phrase "corporate nationhood."
How?
Signatories to the TPP, which now include the U.S., most of the Pacific rim countries in addition to Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico, and Canada, will agree that a binding tribunal made up of three corporate judges will settle dispute and supersede, for example, the U.S. Constitution.
The TPP is the forerunner to the equally secret pact between the E.U. and the U.S. known as Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment. However, the BBC is reporting that the European commission is slamming on the brakes and has “launched a three-month public consultation on the proposed investment rules for firms, responding to fears that they could give big firms too much power to block unfavorable government policies.”
[via Acronym TV]
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