Why is a so-called “free trade agreement” being negotiated in secret; even from the Senate oversight committee?
The trade agreement in question is called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, in which the United States is negotiating with the following countries: Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Mexico, Peru, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and possibly South Korea. The MB50’s Blog has been covering this story. They reported a year ago:
An international treaty being negotiated in secret which would not only crack down on Internet privacy much more than SOPA or ACTA, but would actually destroy the sovereignty of the U.S. and all other signatories.
It is called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Wyden is the chairman of the trade committee in the Senate … the committee which is supposed to have jurisdiction overthe TPP. Wyden is also on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and so he and his staff have high security clearances and are normally able to look at classified documents.
And yet Wyden and his staff have been denied access to the TPP’s text.
And now MB50 reports on what Congressman Allan Grayson had to say a few days ago:
Last month, 10,000 of us submitted comments to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in which we objected to new so-called free trade agreements. We asked that the government not sell out our democracy to corporate interests.
Because of this pressure, the USTR finally let a member of Congress – little ole me, Alan Grayson [anyone who’s seen Grayson in action knows that he is formidable] – actually see the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a large, secret trade agreement that is being negotiated with many countries in East Asia and South America.
The TPP is nicknamed “NAFTA on steroids.” Now that I’ve read it, I can see why. I can’t tell you what’s in the agreement, because the U.S. Trade Representative calls it classified. But I can tell you two things about it.
1) There is no national security purpose in keeping this text secret.
2) This agreement hands the sovereignty of our country over to corporate interests.
3) What they can’t afford to tell the American public is that [the rest of this sentence is classified].
And Grayson also noted:
It is ironic in a way that the government thinks it’s alright to have a record of every single call that an American makes, but not alright for an American citizen to know what sovereign powers the government is negotiating away.
***
Having seen what I’ve seen, I would characterize this as a gross abrogation of American sovereignty. And I would further characterize it as a punch in the face to the middle class of America. I think that’s fair to say from what I’ve seen so far. But I’m not allowed to tell you why!
So, Obama’s most transparent government ever hides everything from Benghazi to NSA snooping to free trade agreements behind the shield of “national security”. This is an issue that both progressives and conservatives should be outraged about and demand that our government come clean. The author of MB50 reminds us that Mussolini would define fascism as “merger of state and corporate power”. Until and unless the boiling frogs on both sides of the political spectrum realize they are being cooked, nothing will change.
Well, that’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?
Asylum Watch 
There you go again. Hiding behind the bourgeois construct of the nation-state.
But seriously this should surprise no one. Our president, the “citizen of the world” sees American exceptionalism as an embarrassment. All borders must be removed to achieve the perfect socialist worker’s paradise on Earth.
I can’t wait until The One becomes Secretary General of the UN. If he can screw up the greatest country the world has ever known, think what he could do to the rest of the world.
this is not socialism, it is a neo-liberal wet dream, the privatization
of everything with no governmental interference.
I’m not into this “new world order” stuff.
Politicians and governments are far to incompetent to pull off anything like creating a “new world order”.
I worry far more about damages that governments accidentally inflict through their own incompetence, corruption, inefficiency and ineffective leadership.
Politicians and governments are far to incompetent to pull off anything like creating a “new world order”.
I agree. However, their own incompetence, corruption, inefficiency and ineffective leadership. . . . could sure create a big
clusterdunkmess as they try. If one goes to a surgeon who does not know which surgical instruments to use or how to use them for what, but nevertheless goes ahead with the surgery, the surgery may be quite satisfactory to the surgeon. What if the patient thereby becomes further impaired or dies? Them’s the breaks.And I think accidents are more rare than people think.
Hello, AZLEADER.
My own point of view is that the architects of the new world order are not governments at all. The structure is being determined by and for transnational corporations. It is designed to supercede the sovereignty of nations whenever their laws or regulations might negatively impact the potential for profit.
I do not see profit as the prime moral directive for governance. However, it is quite clear that this is the foundation for corporate ethics, such as they are. The only question about any collateral damage from destruction secondary to monetary gain, including deaths and disease, is–will the enterprise be profitable in the final analysis. Costs related to such behavior, including fines, lawsuits and regulatory restriction, are simply the costs of doing business. If the gain is great enough to exceed these expenses, then pay off the widows and orphans, and carry on as before.
The governments you claim are incompetent are nothing more than the sock-puppets of these gargantuan business interests. You are being played–a child watching puppet theatre while the pick-pockets are working the crowd…
Meanwhile he installs more of his minions in high places to complete the end of America’s as once known.
It’s all going according to his plan and the Repubs do damn little to try and stop hiim.
Obama is a globalist who abhors the sovereignty of the United States, and probably all nations. He is merely the puppet being used to manipulate the ushering in of the New World Order, but in reality he is more than a puppet because he is an all too willing participant in the destruction of the economic system as we know it.
And Americans elected him twice!
Totally, Steve. Manchurian candidate.
This sounds like pretty bad stuff. But don’t ALL treaties, negotiated in secret or not, have to be confirmed by the full senate? It WILL have to come to light before the vote.
The origins of this treaty and U.S. involvement started before the Obama administration.Personally I don’t trust any politicians from either “party” but I am actually curious to know if people who describe themselves as conservatives are against this “treaty” because it is bad for working class Americans and working class people everywhere else or because Obama is for it?
We are against it because it is bad policy. You won’t find many defenders of the GOP or the Democrats here, Scott.
If the nGoverment in doing this in secret and We The People can’t vote on ii it;s not for US.!