The biggest problem with these neoliberal trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is they homogenize evil. Having local options is not just some quaint hippie idea, it is the very basis of advanced economic development. So in their naked greed, these trade grabbers outlaw a whole bunch of very useful ideas. The best example I can think of concerns an Asian nation that was trying to keep it's young from starting to smoke. Their non-smoking campaign was successfully sued by big tobacco for creating a trade barrier. In the acutely brain-damaged minds of the neoliberal, this actually makes sense (or so they argue.) That such folks have been dominating the economic argument since the 1970s demonstrates a theological fanaticism that is so extreme it makes the craziest religious nuts of history look like harmless cranks by comparison (and yes, I know about the children's crusades.)
Unfortunately, these trade agreements make it possible to seize the incomes of whole nations so there are serious incentives to get them passed. This time around, it seems like the big-money folks have bought some extra influence in the corridors of the permanent government. It might not be enough. It looks like the pushback from the 97% that are actually harmed by these deals may sink TPP. Even in a barely-functioning "democracy" such as we have in USA, these kind of numbers can sway even a corporate toady like Nancy Pelosi into announcing her opposition to "fast-tracking" TPP. (We'll see!) Of course, until the discussion changes its focus to what is necessary for a survival economics, the neoliberals will just bring back TPP under a new name. It's what they do. They have erected a complex institutional apparatus used to corrupt governments into agreeing to their insane greed.real economics
More evidence that TPP is utterly corrupt
Jonathan Larson
1 comment:
TPP is an all out assault on democracy itself.
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