President Obama has been pursuing, in secret, negotiations, three major trade deals that will create a complete global network of laws that favor corporations. These laws have been written of, by, and for the corporations. We've gotten to see one of them, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and it's not as bad as we thought--it's worse. And that's the TPP.
Margaret Flowers challenges President Obama's claim that the trade deal will promote a strong middle-class https://youtu.be/BKVzNlkm7ZM Transcript from The Real News Network JAISAL NOOR, PRODUCER, TRNN: The long-awaited text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, has finally been released to the public. The controversial and until now highly secretive trade pact would reduce trade More
The corporate media will never refer to the United States as an empire, nor will it cover the horrors of exploitation at home and abroad.
Article: “The text of the TPP’s intellectual property chapter confirms advocates’ warnings that this deal poses a grave threat to global freedom of expression and basic access to things like medicine and information. … But the sad part is that no one should be surprised by this. ..."
On Reality Asserts Itself, Chris Hedges and Paul Jay discuss Ferguson, Baltimore and the need to build a movement with candidates that targets white supremacy and corporate capitalism, the role of violence in revolution and the Bernie Sanders campaign.
Pitt: First, the very existence of the TAA bill means these people in DC know the trade bill will be a job-destroyer in the US. Otherwise they wouldn't bother, period. Second, $700 million per year isn't nearly enough to help all those who will have to hit the bricks once their jobs go away, so $450 million is basically a bad joke.
Hedges: If things unravel [in the U.S.], our backlash may very well be a rightwing backlash — a very frightening rightwing backlash. We who care about populist movements [on the left] are very weak, because in the name of anti-communism these movements have been destroyed; we are almost trying to rebuild them from scratch. We don’t even have the language to describe the class warfare that is being unleashed upon us by this tiny, rapacious, oligarchic elite. But we on the left are very disorganized, unfocused, and without resources.
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! interviews Julian Assange on the NSA, the TPP, and other current issues. The interview took place on Monday, May 25, 2015. Democracy Now! May 27, 2015 https://youtu.be/ic6YEWrjx5Q https://youtu.be/_5b-99oxCEs Subscribe or “Follow” us on RiseUpTimes.org. Rise Up Times is also on Facebook! Check the Rise Up Times page for posts from this blog More
Fiore: After a little smack-down by the Senate, the Most Transparent Administration Ever is still trying to push through the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the Most Transparent Way Possible.
Friends of the Earth: "These trade deals would harm the environment, allow corporations to roll back government laws on fossil fuel exports and impede future action by Congress to protect the planet from climate disruption. A vote for Fast Track is a vote for climate disaster and an attack on our clean air and water."
Korten: A quick reading of the leaked chapter makes it clear why TPP sponsors have gone to great lengths to keep their negotiations secret. The document substantiates claims by opponents that the TPP is a corporate-rights agreement designed to facilitate the export of U.S. jobs, allow corporations to sue governments for enacting labor and environmental protections, make it illegal for governments to favor local businesses, and advance the colonization of national economies by global corporations and financiers.
Popular Resistance: Challenging the Neo-Liberal Assault The truth is that people-power can stop fast track and the global neo-liberal assault. We can do this through both civil resistance to stop harmful policies such as emergency managers and international corporate treaties and by telling a new story and taking action to create a new societal structure for the economy and governance.
