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Legislation key to US President Barack Obama's trade agenda has passed a key hurdle in the Senate, just two weeks after it appeared to have failed.
The bill known as the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) or, more commonly, Fast Track, makes it easier for presidents to negotiate trade deals.
Supporters see it as critical to the success of a 12-nation trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The bill is expected to pass a final vote in the Senate on Wednesday.
Tuesday's 60-37 vote - just barely meeting the required 60 vote threshold - is the result of the combined efforts of the White House and many congressional Republicans to push the bill through Congress, despite the opposition of many Democrats.
This is primarily a tech news site, and it's generally good to avoid political news, but the TPP is a huge trade deal, negotiated in secret, that will have large ramifications for the world economy that affects us all, and that also has large implications for the accountability of major world governments to their citizens.
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Thursday June 25 2015, @12:47AM
This is why voting in the current system is completely worthless, your "choice" is between corporate ass kissing douchebag A or B, that's it. Its not even Coke VS Pepsi, its Coke in a bottle VS coke in a slightly different shaped bottle.
As the late great Bill Hicks put it "I think the puppet on the left shares MY beliefs, well I think the puppet on the right has MY interests at heart....hey wait a minute, there is one guy working both puppets!" and that one guy is the 1%, who would burn the country to the ground if it boosted profits. Thomas Jefferson pointed this out when he wrote "Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains."
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Zz9zZ on Thursday June 25 2015, @02:36AM
All true, but I'm glad the country at least HAD hope for change. It shows that the citizens want improvement, even if we are all being played for fools. The bad thing for goons is that they're sinking themselves further into a hole where people won't forgive or trust them again. I am worried that its driving the more disenfranchised people closer to violence. I for one would prefer to NOT experience a revolt.
I just can't fully wrap my head around the insanity... the only thing I can figure is that the greedy bastards are improperly educated and don't really understand the consequences of their actions. Humanity survives together, and the Earth is a relatively closed system we all depend on. It is very informative when politicians like Santorum tell the Pope to stick to religion and leave science alone. I would only agree if the Pope was not in agreement with the science...
Argh, this shit is just so stupid it hurts. I hope some other leaders step up to the plate and encourage Humanity to stand up for doing the right things, not just the most profitable.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @08:43AM
1) There are more than 2 parties. And when > 95% of the voters who bother voting keep voting for either Twiddledee or Twiddledum why should the Two Parties change? They might lose votes if they change too much.
The Two Parties will change when the voters start voting for other parties. Those other parties may never win, but if the Two Parties change enough to do some of what you want, then it works better than just not voting at all, or the insanity of voting for the same thing and expecting different.
2) what most voters care about is different from what the corporations and minorities like you care about. And the system sure seems to be delivering what they want the most.
Far more voters care more about guns, gay marriage, abortion, marijuana than about TPP. So the politicians give the voters the gay marriage stuff, and they give their sponsors the TPP stuff. Win-win. It's happened for marijuana already - voters started caring more about marijuana and so some states have changed their laws accordingly.
Seriously - go around and ask voters what they think of guns or gay marriage. Then ask them about TPP. Even after informing them about TPP I bet most of them still won't care as much. Somehow many allegedly straight people seem to care a lot about gay marriage despite gay marriage not affecting them, and the most gay couples not having children and thus all those "protect the family" stuff is irrelevant and bullshit.
Basic divide and conquer.
So we' are the minority, the weird ones for caring more about stuff like the TPP.