YOU CAN’T SAY “YES”, WHEN IT JUST DOESN’T SMELL RIGHT

…The reps that negotiated the TPP Trade Agreement

When all past trade bill haven’t really worked, why would you agree to sign another one?

Of all the president’s programs that I have written about and supported, I just haven’t been able to fully support the Trans Pacific Partnership or TPP trade agreement

You know, when you are around politics as I have been for years, and when you get exposed to something that just doesn’t smell right, it’s hard to say “yes” to something that just doesn’t seem quite kosher.

So, OK, let’s put it all on the table.

First, every time there has been new trade deals like NAFTA and CAFTA, and the trade deals with China and North Korea, all the promises for more American jobs have always disappeared.  Since all these trade deals were signed, the US has lost over 50,000 factories since 2000.  No, I didn’t say 50,000 jobs.  I said 50,000 factories, and most were located in middle America.

No, the factories and jobs weren’t all gone due to these trade deals.  There had been some lost to automation, other factories were just out-dated and needed to be closed.  But many were where the factory was moved to a country where they allow child labor, few benefits, and the prevailing hourly wage was less than $1.00 per hour.

So, there’s a good reason to ask some serious questions about the signing of another possibly questionable trade agreement.

Now, first I want to ask, why are there so many politicians also questioning the TPP?

Well, first one must ask, who was involved with the drafting of the agreement?

To start off the conversation, it has been published that over 500, non-government advisors participated in the original drafting of the agreement. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Senator that has been driving the opposition to this agreement, she has stated that 85% of these advisors were industry executives or lobbyists.

Now that would be the first clue that this might not be in the best interest of the average hard working American.  Also per the senator, “This trade deal is getting the full court lobbying press from those same giant multinational corporations.”  She also added, “The middle class is on the ropes and now is the time to fight back.”

The president had lost his first bid to “fast track” this agreement through the senate.  This was due mainly to Senator Warren’s efforts and the efforts of the independent senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders.  But they aren’t the only ones that just don’t trust this agreement.  First, beware that all the Republicans in Congress are in support of it.  That’s your first clue that something’s probably amiss.  But when 44 of the 45 Democrats present for a vote defied the president and walked away from the first vote for the bill, you knew something was a problem.

Even Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the chief Democratic advocate for fast-tracking the bill, buckled under the pressure. The bill’s proponents then fell eight votes short of the 60 they needed to take up the fast-track bill.  After some fixes, the revised bill made it through the senate, but it now must get through the House, and that could be difficult.

Senator Warren made it very clear why it was so important that the secrecy behind the bill be brought out in the open.   She stated, “We can’t keep pushing through trade deals that benefit multinational companies at the expense of [American] workers,” she added, with theatrical urgency. “Government cannot continue to be the captive of the rich and powerful. Working people cannot be forced to give up more and more as they get squeezed harder and harder.”

But failing this bill is more important than just the bill itself.

As I said, in the House, the free-trade package will faced trouble.  Anger over growing national income inequality has reached critical mass with the Democrats, and a backlash has begun against a political system that has, over the last three decades, allowed 100% of all national income growth to go to the wealthiest 10%.

The trade deal could become the victim of that general anger that has been growing across the nation.  This is not because of the TPP’s details, but is instead because the agreement hasn’t been accompanied by more protections and assistance for American workers.

 

“I believe in this,” Obama said of the trade deal, “the same way… that I believe in a higher minimum wage. The same way that I believe in stronger protections for workers who are trying to get a voice in their company. The same way I believe in equal pay. The same way I believe in paid sick leave....”

However the president’s actions haven’t matched his words, and he didn’t require Republicans to accept any of these beliefs or priorities before he joined them in pushing for free-trade legislation.

 

It was the senate Republicans that drove the Democrats into direct opposition when they declined requests to offer a meager amount of training funds for American workers who would lose their jobs.  In addition, the Democrats in Congress were very upset with the president’s disparagement of the bill’s opponents as being "emotional, illogical" and being what he called, “dishonest about the bill”.

Senator Warren, then took a shot at the Democrats who have “floated along with the idea that economic growth is in direct opposition to strengthening the wellbeing of America’s working families… That claim is flatly wrong.”

The early votes against Obama’s trade bill confirms that many of Senator Warren’s populists views now dominate much of the Democratic Party.  Many now feel that if Obama wants to retain a semblance of relevance in his final year in office, at some point, he’ll need to join them.

I guess we’ll all see.

Copyright G.Ater  2015