any thoughts on the TPP

[callmeslick]

....short for the Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade deal presently being worked out, along with a companion Fast Track authorization from Congress? This is the darling cause on the left at the moment, and I've been writing a bit about folks getting worked up over 'leaks' and other sketchy info, before anything concrete is put into writing. Further, I have little issue with Fast Track legislation as I have no need for Congress to get involved with tinkering with an international accord, and being limited to a Yes/No vote on the agreement. Anyone here been looking into this? My thinking is one of suspicion as, to date, most of the these trade agreements tend to hurt the US as a net result(some industries pick up, others move out or die off). Still, until I see a real agreement, and not some wikileaks cherry picking and dubious sourced leakage, I remain open minded.

[Vander]

I'm not against using such treaties in principle to create efficiencies or aligning regulation. It seems to me, though, that one of the main efficiencies created is saving entrenched business interests time and money by killing 15 birds with one stone. The main beneficiaries will likely be large corporations.

I'm kind of indifferent to fast track. The closed door nature of the negotiations can be problematic for transparency, and limiting the time allowed for review seems to add an unnecessary edge of deceit. I have no problem with being limited to a yes/no vote. I would like to see the full discussion and debate that produces that yes/no vote, but who are we kidding. The whores in congress barely read their own bills. They'll vote how they're paid.

[Krom]

Remember a couple years ago when the internet got into this huge uproar about S.O.P.A.?

Well, the TPP basically includes everything bad about SOPA dialed up to 11 because now it is outside any countries proper legislative review process, so it is crafted entirely by and for the benefit of soulless multinational corporations. I laugh as people talk about the FCC "regulating the internet" while the TPP is being negotiated behind closed doors and as of the last leaked draft a few years ago was proposing censorship of the internet so strong that if they were so inclined they could literally declare anything they didn't like on the internet as illegal and have it removed with no due process and no chance to appeal, all in the name of preventing copyright infringement...

Like literally it was no stretch of the wording in the TPP to make it effectively impossible to allow user generated content on a website, which means say goodbye to social networking, forums like this, etc. The only things that could be posted on the internet with no danger of legal action would be stuff directly controlled the mega corporations or the governments themselves.

[callmeslick]

Krom, do you have a copy(legit, not 'leaked') of any actual document? If not, you sure show quite a bit of certainty about the contents regarding a VERY minor aspect of a large trade agreement.

[MD-1118]

Krom, do you have a copy(legit, not 'leaked') of any actual document? If not, you sure show quite a bit of certainty about the contents regarding a VERY minor aspect of a large trade agreement.

How is 'leaked' info not 'legit', Slick?

https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp
http://www.exposethetpp.org/TPPImpacts_ ... eedom.html
http://www.ibtimes.com/tpp-trade-deal-w ... rn-1883780

Just a few of the links a five second google search brings up. The TPP is bad news. Also, links to the leaked drafts of the TPP can be found at these sites.

[Krom]

How exactly does one obtain a 'legit' copy of a secret trade agreement?

[callmeslick]

you don't. Further pretty much ALL such documents are negotiated in secret, to avoid the kind of cherry picking over proposals that poisons negotiations. I do NOT consider wikileaks 'leaked' sections or the like in ANY way legit.