T.P.P. TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP!

T.P.P. TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP!

(Washington Examiner, Carl Strangler, Russian Times, Chris Riley)

(Cathie Adams, Jo Ann Fleming, Lewis Stark, Deborah H. Gleeson, Kyla S. Tienhaara)

 (Wiki leaks, Thomas A. Faunce, Zach Carter, Artist K. Hackiya, Huffington Post, Frazer Chronicle)

 

I had never heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or the T.P.P., which I ran across in an article in the Russian Times regarding a United States Congress introduction of legislation that would grant President Barack Obama fast track authority to enact three looming global trade accords, including the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership.

 

Never having heard of a T.P.P. or a Trans-Pacific Partnership, I thought I’d better bone up on whatever information there was out there on the web. First I had to get information on a political animal by the name of Fast Tracking Authority. Again I’d never heard of Fast Tracking Authority, and no wonder, the term applies only to U.S. trade policies.

 

Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress writes the laws and sets trade policy, and so it’s been for the past couple hundred years and a bit more. However over the past few decades presidents have seized both making trade laws and trade policy through a mechanism known as Fast Tracking. Bush 41 made fast tracking one of his campaign planks and used the process several times during his administration.

 

The United States is based on a check and balance system of governance, and Fast Tracking completely ignores that very important part of the mechanism that helps to keep the country, supposedly, on a somewhat even keel with regards to political practices.

 

Every government in the world…..with few exceptions…. starts out with almost benevolent intentions towards the masses of people, but in the end want to collect power from those same masses. Barack Obama is no different than any of the others over the past four decades, and Fast Tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership proves that point.

 

It seems that some people figure that by passing these trade agreements U.S. sovereignty will be threatened, and there are a hell-of-a lot of conservatives that figure that’s exactly what President Obama wants to do. Why any sitting president would want to take our sovereignty I’ve never understood, but some very powerful and influential people feel that way.

 

It is a fact that other presidents have used Fast Tracking Authority to circumvent Congress, passing into law the North American Free Trade Agreement, and to insure that the U.S. would be active participants in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

 

FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS AREN’T ALWAYS FREE

Every customs union, trade common market, economic union, customs and monetary union and economic and monetary union also has a free trade area. Most of these multilateral agreements are signed between neighboring countries, but there are exceptions like the worldwide World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement which is regional by some definitions, but not neighboring.

 

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has agreements in agriculture, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, barriers to trade, trade related investment measures, anti dumping, custom valuation, pre-shipment inspection, rules of origin, import licensing procedures, subsidies and countervailing measures, safeguards agreement, trades in service, trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, government procurement, technology agreements, and Bali package.

 

There’s common markets, the (AFTA) Asian Free Trade Area, (APTA) Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, (SICA) Central American Integration System, (CEFTA) Central European Free Trade Agreement, (COMESA) Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, (G-3) Free Trade Agreement, (GAFTA) Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement (of 1957), (DR-CAFTA) Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, (GCC) Gulf Cooperation Council, (NAFTA) North American Free Trade Agreement, Pacific Alliance, (SAFTA) South Asia Free Trade Agreement, (SADC) Southern African Development Community, (MERCOSUR) Southern Common Market, (TPP) Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership.

 

There are in addition 24 proposed agreements, which list everything from African Free Trade Zone, (AFTZ) between (SADC, EAC, and COMESA). There’s also the Free Trade Area of America, Economic Community of South Africa, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. Like I said, there are 24 proposed addition acts at this time, and I’m sure that there’ll be 24 more next year.

 

JUST SAY NO

First Lady, Nancy Reagan made the above line famous when her husband, President Ronald Reagan, was in the White House for two terms. She was, of course referring to the use of illicit drugs by the youth of the country, and…..sadly the phrase “just say no” was way short of the mark, kids laughed at her feeble attempts at drug control and usage.

 

Past presidents desired the power of Fast Tracking Authority for obvious reasons; the power would leave Obama unfettered to do as he pleases with regards to trading acts that might come up during the course of his 2^nd term in office.

 

Congress again is shirking its responsibilities when it gives the president this awesome power, it strips away every single bit of oversight that the U.S. Congress has over the number one guy at 1600 Pennsylvania…..presidents do occasionally make mistakes in judgment.

 

Congress at this juncture has a simple responsibility, to put its collective foot down and tell the Prez, he can’t take his ball and go home, he’ll be scrutinized on all foreign policies from this moment on…..it’s part of the Congress’s responsibility.

 

The United States at this juncture sits at the edge of a deep hole, economically, and needs to protect what jobs are here in the country. Whenever a new agreement is reached, whenever a new free trade accord is signed into law, jobs leave the country, never to return. We simply can’t afford that anymore, hell we’re at the brink of suffocating, pretty soon we’ll need free food, and all sorts of economic help.

 

If you-all will recall…..the Affordable Care Act that was installed by Mr. Obama has been nothing short of a colossal mistake. It’s pretty clear that this president isn’t really up to the task…..so let’s error on the side of caution.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!