posted December 09, 2013 11:34 AM            

It is a nasty piece of "treaty" and the secrecy has been challenged in Congress, though all treaties must supposedky be passed by the Senate I hsven't heard a peep from a senator.

Not sure why Russia is not mentioned, as they were at the meeting in October that Obama missed due to the shutdown party...

Everyone should be contacting their Senators, snd probsbly Congressmen too, incessantly, to stop this.

Also the Atlantic Trade agreement which is concurrently being chewed over which is basically thr same thing...and together with this ties up most of the world in a corporate wonderland.

This is what I have been talking about for years, the corporate takeover if the country under cover if "corporations are businesses so leave them to do as they please" that your so-called conservatives have been pushing for the last how many years?

This is what happens when you defend their right to plow as much money as they like into buying the government and all its actors.

posted December 09, 2013 11:41 AM            

The memos, which come from a government involved in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, detail continued disputes in the talks over the deal. The documents reveal broad disagreement over a host of key positions, and general skepticism that an agreement can be reached by year-end. The Obama administration has urged countries to reach a deal by New Year's Day, though there is no technical deadline.

One memo, which was heavily redacted before being provided to HuffPost, was written ahead of a new round of talks in Singapore this week. Read the full text of what HuffPost received here. (Note: Ellipses indicate redacted text. Text in brackets has been added by a third party.) Another document, a chart outlining different country positions on the text, dates from early November, before the round of negotiations in Salt Lake City, Utah. View the chart here. HuffPost was unable to determine which of the 11 non-U.S. nations involved in the talks was responsible for the memo.

"These are not U.S. documents and we have no idea of their authorship or authenticity," a spokesman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said. "Some elements in them are outdated, others totally inaccurate." The spokesman declined to specify which parts were outdated or inaccurate.

The Obama administration has been leading negotiations on the international trade accord since 2010. The countries involved in the talks include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

One of the most controversial provisions in the talks includes new corporate empowerment language insisted upon by the U.S. government, which would allow foreign companies to challenge laws or regulations in a privately run international court. Under World Trade Organization treaties, this political power to contest government law is reserved for sovereign nations. The U.S. has endorsed some corporate political powers in prior trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the scope of what laws can be challenged appears to be much broader in TPP negotiations.

"The United States, as in previous rounds, has shown no flexibility on its proposal, being one of the most significant barriers to closing the chapter, since under the concept of Investment Agreement nearly all significant contracts that can be made between a state and a foreign investor are included," the memo reads. "Only the U.S. and Japan support the proposal."

Under NAFTA, companies including Exxon Mobil, Dow Chemical and Eli Lilly have attempted to overrule Canadian regulations on offshore oil drilling, fracking, pesticides, drug patents and other issues. Companies could challenge an even broader array of rules under the TPP language.

New standards concerning access to key medicines appear to be equally problematic for many nations. The Obama administration is insisting on mandating new intellectual property rules in the treaty that would grant pharmaceutical companies long-term monopolies on new medications. As a result, companies can charge high prices without regard to competition from generic providers. The result, public health experts have warned, would be higher prices around the world, and lack of access to life-saving drugs in poor countries. Nearly every intellectual property issue in the November chart is opposed by a broad majority of the 12 nations. The December memo describes 119 "outstanding issues" that remain unresolved between the nations on intellectual property matters. The deal would obligate nations to develop many standards similar to those in the United States, where domestic prescription drug prices are much higher than costs in other nations.

Also according to the December memo, the U.S. has reintroduced a proposal that would hamper government health services from negotiating lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. The proposal appears to have been universally rejected earlier in the talks, according to the memo.

Australia and New Zealand have medical boards that allow the government to reject expensive new drugs for the public health system, or negotiate lower prices with drug companies that own patents on them. If a new drug does not offer sufficient benefits over existing generic drugs, the boards can reject spending taxpayer money on the new medicines. They can also refuse to pay high prices for new drugs. The Obama administration has been pushing to ban these activities by national boards, which would lock in big profits for U.S. drug companies. Obamacare sought to mimic the behavior of these boards to lower domestic health care costs by granting new flexibilities to U.S. state agencies for determining drug prices.

The U.S. is also facing major resistance on bank regulation standards. The Obama administration is seeking to curtail the use of "capital controls" by foreign governments. These can include an extremely broad variety of financial tools, from restricting lending in overheated markets to denying mass international outflows of currency during a financial panic. The loss of these tools would dramatically limit the ability of governments to prevent and stem banking crises.

"The positions are still paralyzed," the December memo reads, referring to the Financial Services Chapter. "The United States shows zero flexibility."

posted December 09, 2013 11:43 AM            

I will therefore observe the convo "you" conservatives have about this, which apparently is only interesting as a vehicle for calling Obama names and not because of its implications to the end of countries as we know them.

posted December 09, 2013 12:16 PM            

Wrong again. My argument was that it couldn't possibly apply to American citizens because it would violate their "due process" rights under the 5th the 14th Amendment and their rights against illegal searches and seizures under the 4th Amendment.

So, now you get a chance to tell us all about American Citizens who have been detained, imprisoned indefinitely or killed without a trial by US law enforcement.

posted December 09, 2013 01:14 PM            

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posted December 09, 2013 01:31 PM            

I mentioned it because while you were away the bavkline was accusing me of defending this bill i was "squawking about" according to you when it came out.

As to the peanut gallery I wish only that people would wake up and see that this is not about any one person or party being the devil, but an intricate web made of many players, treaties and deals-behind-closed-doors.

posted December 09, 2013 02:27 PM            

Senate has to pass on treaties folks! Stopsitting on your hands crying foul and make the need to stop it thru the Senate viral. Several nasty pending items HAVE been stopped.this way thru social media efforts in the past couple years.

posted December 09, 2013 02:59 PM            

quote:

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.

As to the peanut gallery I wish only that people would wake up and see that this is not about any one person or party being the devil, but an intricate web made of many players, treaties and deals-behind-closed-doors.

Time wasting nastiness is not constructive IMO

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posted December 09, 2013 03:07 PM            

"You are my base, the haves and havemores"
Reducing taxes for everone which benwfitted those at the top the most.
Signing the precursor to this nasty package.
"bring it on" macho against Iraq (ans there us plenty of evidence to show that Iraq, not terrirists, were the chosen target in JAN 2001)
Basically espousing the policied that put the Kochs,Walmart, Exxons etc in position to sew up the world let alone this country

Obama, on the other hand says the opposite and has
Drawn down the military
Passed helathcare act
Raised taxes where allowed
And somehow NOT signed.this treaty

Then think about the behind scenes folk who will gain from having an impotent president, see how congress.has abetted them and thwarted his every mive, and think about whether he is doing what he has to to get through this or, like Bush, relishes being the cowboy.

I am not sold on Obama, but too aware that he is a classic scapegoat and the single-pronged attack on hom as if he is capable of even half what you believed, well I didn't go there with Bush either. I think Bush let Cheney "guide" him thru the early years and then started to wake up. But it's not so easy to turn that "ship" around when it's in mid-tack.

This has been coming a long time now. Bush and Clinton and others have been where Obama is now helping it or hindering to the best of their abilities.

posted December 09, 2013 08:10 PM            

I don't trust him on this one. Even though I would like believe that he believes he has to play the game with the Meisters to get some other things done, that doesn't mean I excuse him for playing it. HOWEVER this could easily be like Syria, where he is SEEN to be pushing something but in such a way as to cause the deal to fall through.

I don't know but that doesn't change the fact that the so-called secret negotiations have been outted, several members of Congress have formally complained, and the SENATE HAS TO PASS ON TREATIES...

so the bottom line is lobbying the Senator of your choice to stand up...if they get enough flack BEFORE the event (unlike the NDAA) it can create the pressure they need to do so.

posted December 09, 2013 08:49 PM            

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posted December 10, 2013 12:31 PM            

Contact your Senators who can stop this no matter what Obama does or doesn't do.

If you don't you can't blame anyone but yourself if it goes thru. Cynicism is just an easy out.

posted December 10, 2013 12:50 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Catalina:
Whatever you think of the President, calling him names, even impeaching him, are a waste of time and money...
For those so intent on impeachment, you have no idea, obviously, what that means.

Contact your Senators who can stop this no matter what Obama does or doesn't do.

If you don't you can't blame anyone but yourself if it goes thru. Cynicism is just an easy out.

While active citizenship doesn't guarantee the result you want, doing nothing just defines you as a hot air balloon.

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No pic IDs in key states and massive NoBama voter fraud. NOBama stole it, in my opinion.

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posted December 10, 2013 01:59 PM            

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posted December 10, 2013 02:12 PM            

No comment as to YOUR membership status

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