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posted by CoolHand on Wednesday May 13 2015, @07:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-SHAFTA dept.

Zero Hedge reports

[May 12], in an embarrassing setback for the president, Senate Democrats in a 52-45 vote--short of the required 60 supporters--blocked a bill that would give President Barack Obama fast-track authority to expedite trade agreements through Congress, a major defeat for Obama and his allies who "say the measure is necessary to complete a 12-nation Pacific trade deal that is a centerpiece of the administration's economic agenda."

The passage failed after a leading pro-trade Democrat said he would oppose the bill: Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said he would vote no and his loss was a major blow to hopes of attracting a sufficient number Democrats to get 60 "yes" votes in the chamber.

According to Reuters, the Senate vote was one of a series of obstacles to be overcome that hinged on the support of a handful of Democrats. The White House has launched a campaign blitz directed at them in support of granting the president authority to speed trade deals through Congress.

Fast-track legislation gives lawmakers the right to set negotiating objectives but restricts them to a yes-or-no vote on trade deals such as the TPP, a potential legacy-defining achievement for Obama.

[...]Why is Obama scrambling to ram the TPP bill through Congress as fast as possible?

[...]This enormous new treaty would tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations. Worse, it would undermine U.S. sovereignty.

[Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)] would allow foreign companies to challenge U.S. laws--and potentially to pick up huge payouts from taxpayers--without ever stepping foot in a U.S. court. Here's how it would work:

Imagine that the United States bans a toxic chemical that is often added to gasoline because of its health and environmental consequences. If a foreign company that makes the toxic chemical opposes the law, it would normally have to challenge it in a U.S. court. But with ISDS, the company could skip the U.S. courts and go before an international panel of arbitrators [read: corporate-friendly tribunal]. If the company won, the ruling couldn't be challenged in U.S. courts, and the arbitration panel could require American taxpayers to cough up millions--and even billions--of dollars in damages.

 
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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @08:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @08:17PM (#182594)

    Do them wrong and you get reprisals from your trading partners (whom you aren't really treating as partners, but as adversaries).

    in the 1930s

    Replace your bad trade policies with better trade policies and things get -- wait for it -- better.
    End of Smoot-Hawley [wikipedia.org]
    (People who use em dashes inappropriately in page titles are such a pain.)

    the 1980s-present

    "Free trade" == "Export jobs" == "Weak, unstable nation"
    A nation with a manufacturing sector that has been offshored, leaving only the production of weapons, reveals an empire in steep decline.

    A strong manufacturing sector requires carefully-thought-out tariffs or you get a nation that is increasingly economically weak (23 percent unemployment--approaching what that was in the Great Depression, after a series of incompetent Laissez-Faire Republicans).
    Purposely-queered numbers [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [shadowstats.com]
    How the gov't gets its deceptive numbers[1] [googleusercontent.com] (orig)[1] [counterpunch.org]
    The real unemployment numbers [shadowstats.com]
    (Notice how USA.gov doesn't even get the trend correct.)

    [1] To get less-heinous pages at that horribly-crafted site, I use these AdBlock filters:
    ##div.menucontainer
    ##div.navboxwrapleft
    ##div.navboxwrapright
    ##div.trailerbox

    -- gewg_

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