From EFF:
The U.S. Senate has paved the way for the passage of Fast Track legislation, to give the White House and the U.S. Trade Representative almost unilateral power to negotiate and finalize secret anti-user trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Yesterday a "cloture" vote was held—this was a vote to end debate on Fast Track and break any possibility for a filibuster, and it passed by the minimum votes needed—60 to 37. Today, the Senate voted to pass the legislation itself. TPP proponents only needed 51 votes, a simple majority, to actually pass the bill, and they got it in a 60 to 38 vote. Following months and months of campaigning, Congress has ultimately caved to corporate demands to hand away its own constitutional mandate over trade, and the President is expected to the sign the bill into law as early as tonight or later this week.
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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: 4, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday June 24 2015, @10:07PM
Here come the riots and martial law.
Or can anybody reassure me that this may actually be a good thing for the United States, "good thing" meaning that it won't gut the middle-class entirely while placating the lower class a couple extra bucks an hour wage increase, and stocks and fatcats profit even more as a result.
That may be behind the recent demonization of "racists," so that anybody resisting this assault on their national sovereignty will be branded "racists" because the whole "terrorism" bogeyman is starting to get stale.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday June 24 2015, @10:12PM
Pan-lateral universal industrial action ... Imagine if the whole world (little people like me) didn't work for a day or two
..
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2, Interesting) by tftp on Wednesday June 24 2015, @10:23PM
Imagine if the whole world (little people like me) didn't work for a day or two
The whole world generally already doesn't work for a couple days per week. Besides, who such a strike would be aimed at? Who would fear it? Why would they fear it? The government (Congress) is entirely detached from interests of the people. The people, in turn, do not pay attention to "boring politics." Many are intellectually incapable of comprehension. Simplistic and irrelevant wedge issues are created and tirelessly debated to create an impression of political struggle, while serious decisions are made with no discussion.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday June 24 2015, @10:28PM
But PRODUCTIVITY and GROWTH! I mean an extra day off taken by everyone. Maybe it will remind big people where the return on their investment comes from...
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tftp on Thursday June 25 2015, @05:52AM
Maybe it will remind big people where the return on their investment comes from...
Big people like Soros or BG do not care about such details. A common investor, like some grandmother, might - but how would she know what tiny piece of her mutual fund represents a certain company that on a certain day of the year experienced a strike? How would she match that strike to the quarterly performance? What if the company was low on orders and had actually benefited from the strike, at least because they could keep the light and A/C off on that day? What if they didn't pay the striking workers for that day? Then the results would be better!
A common investor would simply have neither the ability to find that out, nor the need to do so. Investors cannot micromanage companies at least because they know only what the company publishes. If the strike is truly global, then all companies, all markets will be identically impacted. If fewer products are made, they will command a higher price. In the end it all balances out. An investor has no reason to worry about global things - just as he does not worry too much about all other strikes, wars, riots, and political upheavals that do happen from time to time.
(Score: 3, Informative) by TheRaven on Thursday June 25 2015, @09:05AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @12:40AM
omni-lateral. Pan is Greek, lateral Latin.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday June 24 2015, @10:16PM
If Congress votes "No" on the TPP, then fast track might have been a good thing (no amendments, nobody's happy enough to approve the deal).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Thursday June 25 2015, @12:43AM
If I won the lottery I wouldn't give a fuck about TPP -- I better go buy a ticket, winning the lottery is way more likely than Congress doing something for the good of the people.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday June 25 2015, @01:06AM
There are many reasons to not pass a bill. If you can't attach your pork or pet issues to a bill with amendments...
It looks like the TPP will pass though, especially if Trade Adjustment passes.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Thursday June 25 2015, @05:55AM
That ain't gonna happen. This vote basically pre-approved a treaty they have never seen.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @11:38PM
No riots or martial law coming. As long as Joe Trailerpark can get his cheap American piss-bear and watch NFL there is no problem.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday June 24 2015, @11:46PM
Or as long as Tyrone Crackhouse can get his cheap American Malt Liquor and watch BET, there is no problem.
(Score: 4, Funny) by JNCF on Thursday June 25 2015, @01:50AM
Joe Trailerpark should really go for an expensive German piss-bear. Cheap American piss-bears are known for having watered-down piss, which isn't nearly as effective at driving unwanted intruders away from your house or trailer. Only German piss-bears are pungent enough to do the job right, and Joe Trailerpark should know that!
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Thursday June 25 2015, @01:27AM
Good thing - no, not even close. Despite the whole thing trying to pass itself off a way to reduce barriers to international trade, the GDP increases expected are so tiny you wouldn't even notice them once they've been rounded to whatever is easily human readable.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @10:23PM
I am also fast tracking my own piece of legislation, it's called "give me your fucking money" (GMYFM) much like TPP it is negotiated in secret between myself and my paraquet. Our finished legislation will not be tabled in the senate, it will however be legally binding to the rest of the world as soon as I say so.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @11:22PM
I'll vote for it in exchange for some campaign donations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @12:33AM
Laws against theft infringe upon my right to expected future profit. Governments everywhere need to pay me to make up for this!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by GungnirSniper on Wednesday June 24 2015, @11:42PM
Meanwhile the media is dutifully distracting us with the "issue" of the Confederate flags. TPP protests are so last week.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Thursday June 25 2015, @12:47AM
Holy cow, I just pointed this out in the other thread. It really struck me as odd that overnight almost all media sources were going off on this Confederate flag thing. Then I read about TPP fast track passage and it clicked. I don't think it is exactly collusion between all mainstream press, but if one outlet publishes something prominently, they all seem to fall like dominos. I would however be totally unsurprised if the initial suggestion for the flag story came from politicians or businesses highly interested in getting fast track authority passed, because once that happens, it's practically a done deal. Well, now it has, and now it will be.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Zz9zZ on Thursday June 25 2015, @03:49AM
Well, not much collusion is needed when most outlets are owned by the same corporation... However it is also the good old ratings effect. What would get more readers, complicated international trade agreements, or an emotionally charged american flag issue. Its evident right here as someone pointed out, way more comments about the flag than the TPP. Although, there isn't much discussion to be had about the TPP beyond "sucky deal forced down our throats" where this flag issue has a lot of social facets we can discuss.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @01:43PM
Maybe the white guy who shot up a black church after telling his buddies he wanted to start a race war, and posted pix of himself waving a Confederate flag, might've had something to do with the media attention?
Nah, there has to be more to it than that. Keep digging, theorists.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @06:10PM
"We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. … It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries." --David Rockefeller 1991
(Score: 5, Interesting) by RobotMonster on Thursday June 25 2015, @12:06AM
yay for corruption. fucking yay.
can't say i'm surprised, but I still managed to delude myself that there would be some hope of sanity prevailing, but no... greed always wins.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by subs on Thursday June 25 2015, @01:34AM
You can't do anything about it. Your primary democratic tool, your vote, is worthless. Both parties are wholly-owned subsidiaries of industry and no amount of voting, whether third party or not, will get you any change.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @03:08AM
What is really sad about that is how many educated people believe votes matter. It is like those sorry SOBs that go into the military thinking their service and death means something. If only people read their history and listen to the generations that already figured this out.
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Thursday June 25 2015, @03:51AM
I was about to post something similar. Votes only matter on some specific issues, mostly local, and even then its a crap shoot against corporate lobbying. I've been chuckling (sadly) to myself for a while now when people get all upset over non-voters.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @05:01AM
Know what gets a politician's attention?
A flood of telephone calls to his office.
(DO NOT email.)
The Capitol switchboard is 1(866)220-0044 toll-free.
In DC it's (202)224-3121.
If you don't know your guy's name, just give your zip code and you'll be put through to his office.
Tell his folks what you think.
Have everybody you know do likewise.
Make him aware that you are all watching him closely on this make-or-break issue (with the implication that, if he muffs it, the lot of you will actively work for his defeat|recall).
This is where neighborhood groups, community groups, clubs, bowling leagues, etc. can be useful.
If the group hasn't met recently|won't meet soon, use a cascading notification tree with fall-through and redundancy to make sure -everybody- knows what's happening.
This advice comes from Ralph Nader who knows a thing or 2 about how to get stuff done WRT gov't.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by penguinoid on Thursday June 25 2015, @03:50AM
Meanwhile, the media is distracting everyone with a Confederate flag.
RIP Slashdot. Killed by greedy bastards.