Topic: Obama backs Pacific Trade agreement
started by: Self-Banished
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 22 2015,6:23 am
Buster's finally doing something I like, promoting trade 
< https://ustr.gov/tpp >
< http://www.wsj.com/article...9664685 >
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 22 2015,7:05 am
I have yet to see a trade agreement that benefits the American Worker! We can not compete with slave labor wages, rather than export goods we’ll be exporting jobs again!QUOTE
Bad Trade Deal Sen. Sanders spoke on Monday at a rally against a major multi-national trade deal. "I think we've got to stand up and say 'enough is enough, we want corporate America to invest in the United States, not China, Mexico and other low-wage countries," Sanders said, according to NPR's 'On Point.' “When agreements are negotiated in secret and using these fast-track procedures, it’s no wonder they are good for big corporations, and bad for ordinary Americans,”
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 22 2015,7:48 am
Yeah, but it'll put money in my pocket😃And your elected boob is doing it
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 22 2015,8:46 am
The Republican Party will vote to a man to pass this deal, many Democrats are opposed!Any trade proposal that puts the American Worker at a disadvantage isn’t good for labor or US.
SB as the wages spiral in response to lower wage foreign competitors it may cause a short term influx of imports/profits but as middleclass buying power wanes global recession/depression will hurt everyone, including you.
I’m not against trade with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan in this agreement or any country that allows workers rights, has equal environmental standards etc. But as Ross Perot described NAFTA as a giant sucking sound I hear that same SUCK on this deal!
To fast track TPP calling for a yea or nae vote without debate is shortsighted for fast profit!
Our competitors have an intelligent supportive relationship between Government and Business to benefit their people, what we have in the US is an adversarial relationship between labor and Corporate focused on short term profit rather than what really benefits US.
To quote Ross Perot: We must stop shipping Manufacturing Jobs overseas and once again make the words “Made In The USA” the worlds standard of excellence.
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 22 2015,9:01 am
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 22 2015,9:27 am
^^Yeah, this is funny, I didn't even have to watch your video, I watched this morning drinking coffee😀Made in America? Most of Toyota and Honda vehicles are built here, GM? Not so much and the funny thing about that on is that the unions have a big say in GM.
You want "made in America" again? Allow for overseas money to be repatriated, loosen regulations and tell the unions to F.O.
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 22 2015,9:46 am
I know you can’t steam youtube but take the time tonight to listen to Senator Warren, Don’t have time to look up transcript but < Market Watch > has extremely limited outline!
This deal infringes on our sovereignty.
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 22 2015,9:53 am
^^since when has Buster given a sh!t about our sovereignty?
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 22 2015,10:09 am
There’s been an erosion of support for the Obama Administration on this issue and others, we’d be far better represented by Warren/Sanders Administration.Obama has always leaned to the right but on this issue he’s bent over backwards for Multinational Corporate interests!
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 22 2015,10:20 am
Ah, SandersHe's the guy nobody pays attention to about the 10+% unemployment rate.
Yeah, nominate Warren😁
P-p-please😜
Posted by alcitizens on Apr. 22 2015,11:49 am
I personally think low cost imports are good for the economy.. Imports allow people with lower incomes to buy some extra food or put gas in their car or pay a bill and still be able to buy products they would normally have go without if they could only buy American Made.. SB is one of many that make money from imports.. More Sales is Good and creates more jobs.. Less Sales is Bad and less jobs are created..
The most important thing is imports keep the inflation rate much lower.. Got to do something to make up for all those printed dollar bills..
Example:
Import work gloves $0.98 cents
< http://www.homedepot.com/p...ription >
Made in U.S.A. work gloves $16.95
< http://www.andersons-online.com/GroupInformation/GroupID/1174409400 >
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 22 2015,12:30 pm
^^I agree with Alky in the Al Brooks thread and now Alky agrees with me???These are truly the end times.
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 22 2015,12:49 pm
Trade deficits aren’t good for any economy, to increase this deficit by dealing with the likes of Vietnam’s slave laborrates is an insult to everyone who served or lost family there! Hồ Chí Minh’s boys can take in the ass!
We can make our own work gloves cheaper than 16.95 in this country, Made in the USA.
We’ve let this cheap trade go to far, it’s difficult to find Gauges, Valves, Electronics, Piping, Breakers,Transformers etc.Made in the USA to keep our plants and factories running. Even our Military has become dependent on imports. Profit has blinded Corporate America to the danger of not being self-sufficient.
National Security is at issue here on two fronts, Defense and economical well-being of our Nation!
Manufacturing in the USA not only gives US jobs but the tax base to pay our Nations bills!
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 22 2015,1:06 pm
QUOTE
^^I agree with Alky in the Al Brooks thread and now Alky agrees with me???
Cupid has shot his arrow and hit you in that fat trucker ass Dumbo.
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 22 2015,1:08 pm
^There's nothing wrong with profits.No, we probably couldn't make gloves cheaper because of regulations,regulations and least we not forget, more regulations. Minimum wages, ridiculous safety rules and if you want to build a new factory it's gotta look like a fricken park.
Vietnam ended over forty year go, get over it.
You can get new parts for your head😁
Posted by alcitizens on Apr. 22 2015,1:11 pm
Eliminate slave labor imports, hello hyperinflation.. Hello skyrocketing interest rates and hello to the end of life as we know it..One thing the U.S. is really good at is exporting our inflation to other countries..
Sorry but its true..
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 22 2015,1:27 pm
Jan 31, 2015 at 2:20pmPat Buchanan has written an excellent, comprehensive overview of our current
Plutocratic Outsourcing-Immigration-Wage Stagnation interaction.
from CNSnews.com
< http://cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/derail-fast-track >
Derail Fast Track!
Jan 30, 2015
by Patrick J. Buchanan
"Last November, Republicans grew their strength in Congress to levels unseen since 1946. What united the party and rallied the nation was the GOP's declared resolve to stand up to an imperious president.
Give us powerful new majorities, said John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, and we shall halt these usurpations of Congressional power.
And, so, what is the first order of business now in the Ways and Means Committee of Paul Ryan and Senate Finance Committee of Orrin Hatch?
"The first thing we ought to do," says Ryan, "is pass trade promotion authority." Trade promotion authority, or "fast track," is a synonym for Congress's surrender of all rights to amend trade treaties, and a commitment to confine itself to a yes or no vote on whatever deal Obama brings home.
Watching the GOP's reversion to form calls to mind the term the neocons gave the French for refusing to join Bush II's big march to Baghdad: "cheese-eating surrender monkeys."
With the huge Trans-Pacific Partnership in negotiations, Obama wants Boehner and McConnell to agree in advance not to tamper with it. "Hands off!" he demands. If this GOP agrees to this, it will, in its first great decision, be engaging in an act self-castration.
Why would they do this?
Has Obama's record been so impressive the GOP should give up its constitutional power to amend trade treaties? As the liberal group Public Citizen notes, the biggest trade deal of Barack's term, the U.S.-Korea trade pact modeled on NAFTA, has been another job-killer for American workers:
"Since the Obama administration used Fast Track to push a trade agreement with Korea, the U.S. trade deficit with Korea has grown 50 percent — which equates to 50,000 more American jobs lost. The U.S. had a $3 billion monthly trade deficit with Korea in October 2014 — the highest monthly U.S. goods trade deficit with the country on record."
Everywhere we hear that the issue of our time is the wage stagnation of the middle class.
But what has caused U.S. wages to stop rising for longer than any period in our history? What caused the inexorable growth of U.S. wages, from the Revolution to Reagan, to stop dead?
Like Poe's "Purloined Letter," the answer is right in front of us.
Wages are the price of labor, and price is determined by supply and demand. Wages have fallen because the supply of labor has exploded.
Following the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, we threw open America's doors to a flood of immigrants, legal and illegal. Some 40-50 million have poured in, an unprecedented expansion of the labor force.
As these immigrants — many uneducated, unskilled, unable to speak English well — entered the labor pool, they were willing to work for less than native-born Americans who needed higher wages to sustain their standard of living. In the service industries, manufacturing, construction, U.S. employers found themselves in a buyers' market for workers right here in the USA.
Yet, over a million new low-wage workers pouring into the USA every year was not enough for our banksters and corporatists.
Thus, "free-trade" Republicans and their collaborators in the Business Roundtable and U.S. Chamber of Commerce decided to drop the U.S. labor force into a worldwide labor pool where the average wage was but a tiny fraction of an American living wage.
Like Dr. King, our transnational corporations had a dream — a dream of bypassing all U.S. regulations on wages and hours, health and safety, and the environment — a dream of getting rid of all those high-wage U.S. workers and their unions.
How to realize this dream?
Move production out of the United States, out from under the jurisdiction of U.S. law, into the Third World, and then bring your products back free of charge. To these folks, America is the best market to sell into, but, as a place to produce, give us China!
Mexicans, Latin Americans, East and South Asians, Chinese would all work for less than Americans, thus enabling corporate executives to take home fatter shares of far larger profits, in salaries, bonuses, benefits, stock options and soaring equity prices.
Like NAFTA and GATT, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is an enabling act for multinationals to move freely to where it is cheapest to produce while securing access to where it is most profitable to sell.
A new Magna Carta — for the billionaires' boys club.
For 40 years, U.S. workers have seen factories close, jobs disappear and company towns become ghost towns, the "creative destruction" of Joe Schumpeter's felicitous phrase.
Only the wholesale destruction was no accident, it was planned.
For scores of millions, the American dream is gone, sacrificed to the gods of the global economy — a new world economic order created by and for an elite whose 1,700 corporate jets were parked wingtip-to-wingtip last week while they partied in Davos.
That is why there may be a Syriza in all of our futures."
Posted by alcitizens on Apr. 22 2015,1:44 pm
Pat Buchanan?? Don't tell me that you've become so liberal that you've come all the way around to the land of teabaggers.. Pull yourself together man, I count on you to be in my corner.. 
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 22 2015,1:49 pm
On occasion I'll find myself in agreement with Buchanan. you've got Dumbo in your corner now Posted by alcitizens on Apr. 22 2015,2:10 pm
Picture most of the World as the United Countries of America.. More people with money in their pockets creates demand for American goods.. Creating jobs in the U.S. and protecting the U.S. Dollar as the World Currency for long time..More places for us to export our inflation..
Can't say I'm crazy about profit regulations, sounds stupid..
I usually trust Reich..
I don't believe a word Pat Buchanan says without proof.. He can spin a tale or two.. Kinda like Maddog..
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 22 2015,2:47 pm
My God this is becoming hilarious.😃Strange, but hilarious.
Posted by Botto 82 on Apr. 22 2015,3:03 pm
QUOTE
cheese-eating surrender monkeys
I always attributed that one to Groundskeeper Willie on The Simpsons. But I digress...
Why do our so-called leaders hate the notion of a strong middle class and low unemployment numbers? Somebody really needs to answer that one. I can't think of a sensible answer beyond greed. And no, "greed" and "profits" are not interchangeable terms.
And I really don't give a hoot if people suddenly have to pay more for their big-screen TV's again, if that's what's implied by making them here again. A new color Motorola in 1966 cost about $5000 in today's dollars. (Chew on that for a while.) The economy was booming, and the bulk of the populace was NOT in hock up to their eyeballs.
Then, the 80's happened. Greed somehow becomes sexy again, and all the safeguards put in place to keep big business and Wall Street from shooting craps with loaded dice come tumbling down, right on through Billy Clinton's Presidency, when we got NAFTA and the repeal of Glass-Steagall. The best and simplest explanation for what the latter implied came from Sloan Sabbith, the money honey from HBO's series The Newsroom, where she said:
"After the great depression, congress wanted to put a firewall between the investment banks and the commercial banks - they wanted to be sure Wall Street could melt to the ground and the commercial banks wouldn't be touched. They passed a law - the Glass-Steagall Act. Now you could be Gordon Gecko or George Bailey but you couldn't be both."
"The culture of deregulation culminates in 1999 (Glass-Steagall gets repealed) and immediately banks start merging. Gordon Gecko can use George Bailey's bank balance to make bets."
The hyper-inflation that alki's worried about won't come to pass as a result of trying to make things here again. It will come about after our economy tanks one more time (it's only a matter of time) and the dollar is no longer the reserve currency of the world. Then, ten-dollar loaves of bread and the like won't be far behind.
The time to fix this is now.
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 22 2015,3:10 pm
^^I just can't argue with that except that we have to do something about it now, we're past the point of doing anything about it, at least with the leaders presently in office.Nothing to do now but sit back and watch.
Posted by Liberal on Apr. 22 2015,3:27 pm
Seriously, free trade with the Chinese is crazy. They have no regard for laws, patents, or trademarks.Look at the Chibson guitars they're selling out the back door of the Epiphone factory.
< https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IrU2hDWVyfA >
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 22 2015,3:37 pm
TPP: Obama against Warren, Reich, Baker, Krugman... but with GOP< http://www.dailykos.com/story...ith-GOP >
I'm going to have give Obama the Flip Flop on Trade
Posted by grassman on Apr. 22 2015,3:41 pm
Global economy is not a good term. It is if it works completely. Why do things cost more in this country versus another? Pharmaceuticals is a good example. Don't be misled, this is a street lined in gold for the same old winners.
Posted by alcitizens on Apr. 22 2015,3:56 pm
Protectionism only protects people from buying the highest quality products at the lowest possible price..
Posted by Liberal on Apr. 22 2015,10:54 pm
You have to protect your brands. As an owner of a Les Paul it infuriates me. These scumbags burn Made in the USA on the back and will print any serial number you want so you can't even depend on that to tell if it's a legit guitar.I'm glad my American made Les Paul is the cheapest version and will never be counterfeited. Why spend $350 to counterfeit an $900 guitar. But my friends with customs and deluxe models might have a toughtime selling because of the counterfeits.
Check out tmall.com by setting up an account with a forwarding company like mistertao.com but you have to misspell things you're looking for because the forwarding company search engine blocks certain searches like dior, vans, ping. If you can't find it with search just browse the shoes. You can pickup a pair of vans for $11 or $12 instead of $50 and up.
You can't have freetrade with the crooked Chinese until they stop the counterfeiting that's been going on for over 25 years.
Posted by stardust14 on Apr. 22 2015,11:24 pm
(alcitizens @ Apr. 22 2015,1:11 pm)
QUOTE
Eliminate slave labor imports, hello hyperinflation.. Hello skyrocketing interest rates and hello to the end of life as we know it..
One thing the U.S. is really good at is exporting our inflation to other countries..
Sorry but its true..
One thing the U.S. is really good at is exporting our inflation to other countries..
Sorry but its true..
Ship container loads of cheap unfixable consumer goods from Communist slave camps traded for American ethics, morals, dignity. How deep we are in debt in those areas.
Posted by alcitizens on Apr. 23 2015,12:28 am
(Liberal @ Apr. 22 2015,10:54 pm)
QUOTE
You have to protect your brands. As an owner of a Les Paul it infuriates me. These scumbags burn Made in the USA on the back and will print any serial number you want so you can't even depend on that to tell if it's a legit guitar.
I'm glad my American made Les Paul is the cheapest version and will never be counterfeited. Why spend $350 to counterfeit an $900 guitar. But my friends with customs and deluxe models might have a toughtime selling because of the counterfeits.
Check out tmall.com by setting up an account with a forwarding company like mistertao.com but you have to misspell things you're looking for because the forwarding company search engine blocks certain searches like dior, vans, ping. If you can't find it with search just browse the shoes. You can pickup a pair of vans for $11 or $12 instead of $50 and up.
You can't have freetrade with the crooked Chinese until they stop the counterfeiting that's been going on for over 25 years.
I'm glad my American made Les Paul is the cheapest version and will never be counterfeited. Why spend $350 to counterfeit an $900 guitar. But my friends with customs and deluxe models might have a toughtime selling because of the counterfeits.
Check out tmall.com by setting up an account with a forwarding company like mistertao.com but you have to misspell things you're looking for because the forwarding company search engine blocks certain searches like dior, vans, ping. If you can't find it with search just browse the shoes. You can pickup a pair of vans for $11 or $12 instead of $50 and up.
You can't have freetrade with the crooked Chinese until they stop the counterfeiting that's been going on for over 25 years.
People are told that crak and meth will fry your brain and if they get busted with it they'll do jail time and lose all respect in their community.. People still do it.. If there is demand for something, there will be someone to produce it, real or fake..
You can eliminate a crook and someone else will take their place.. There is only so much laws and government can do.. Chances are that if you can buy something for half price, its not hot, its fake.. If its too good true, it probably is..
Consumer Beware..
Posted by alcitizens on Apr. 23 2015,12:36 am
(stardust14 @ Apr. 22 2015,11:24 pm)
QUOTE
(alcitizens @ Apr. 22 2015,1:11 pm)
QUOTE
Eliminate slave labor imports, hello hyperinflation.. Hello skyrocketing interest rates and hello to the end of life as we know it..
One thing the U.S. is really good at is exporting our inflation to other countries..
Sorry but its true..
One thing the U.S. is really good at is exporting our inflation to other countries..
Sorry but its true..
Ship container loads of cheap unfixable consumer goods from Communist slave camps traded for American ethics, morals, dignity. How deep we are in debt in those areas.
Read the quote to Liberal.. If the quality is good and the price is right, people will line up to buy it..
Posted by stardust14 on Apr. 23 2015,2:48 am
Basing american capitalism on slave wages is nothing new. Following emancipation the US found wage slaves overseas. Convenient for the US to mutter "sad but true" from our pedestal. Precedence does not prove justification.
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 23 2015,5:53 am
^^oh, the hand wringing, the guilt, give me a break 
Walk through your house, see how many overseas products there are. Did you feel the guilt as you made the purchase? Did you think of the Chinese factory with suicide nets around the perimeter? Doubtful. Most likely you bought on a price point, the balance of the best value and best quality you could afford and were happy with your purchase.
You'll do as everybody else is doing, keep buying the trinkets folks
Posted by Botto 82 on Apr. 23 2015,6:14 am
You're using the meth industry as a basis for your trade policy discussion? 
Just leave the room. The adults are talking...
Posted by Botto 82 on Apr. 23 2015,7:28 am
(Self-Banished @ Apr. 23 2015,5:53 am)
QUOTE
^^oh, the hand wringing, the guilt, give me a break
Walk through your house, see how many overseas products there are. Did you feel the guilt as you made the purchase? Did you think of the Chinese factory with suicide nets around the perimeter? Doubtful. Most likely you bought on a price point, the balance of the best value and best quality you could afford and were happy with your purchase.
You'll do as everybody else is doing, keep buying the trinkets folks
Walk through your house, see how many overseas products there are. Did you feel the guilt as you made the purchase? Did you think of the Chinese factory with suicide nets around the perimeter? Doubtful. Most likely you bought on a price point, the balance of the best value and best quality you could afford and were happy with your purchase.
You'll do as everybody else is doing, keep buying the trinkets folks
One of the myriad reasons I will never own an iPhone. My infinitely superior phone was made in Canada.
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 23 2015,8:41 am
Well who peed in your oatmeal this morning?Yep, I do own an IPhone also an iPad, they work wonderfully for what I need them for. So what does your Canadian phone do that an iPhone won't that I would need?
Meth industry?? What, you think I'm the Walter White of the transportation industry?
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 23 2015,9:04 am
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 23 2015,9:24 am
Trade Policies that Benefit American Workers"Since 2001 we have lost more than 60,000 factories in this country, and more than 4.9 million decent-paying manufacturing jobs. We must end our disastrous trade policies (NAFTA, CAFTA, PNTR with China, etc.) which enable corporate America to shut down plants in this country and move to China and other low-wage countries. We need to end the race to the bottom and develop trade policies which demand that American corporations create jobs here, and not abroad."
~Bernie Sanders
Posted by Glad I Left on Apr. 23 2015,9:39 am
What bizzarro world did I awaken to today?Alki and SB agreeing? Alki and Expat disagreeing?
Maybe the Mayans were only a few years off, the end of the world is truly near!!
As a side note, the discussion is good, I am being informed on things in this thread
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 23 2015,10:37 am
Clinton signed NAFTAso that's two democrat presidents that hosed you over the coals Expat?
Posted by Botto 82 on Apr. 23 2015,11:04 am
(Self-Banished @ Apr. 23 2015,8:41 am)
QUOTE
So what does your Canadian phone do that an iPhone won't that I would need?
It actually sounds like a phone to anyone I'm calling. My friends with iPhones have the most garbled-sounding calls. Second in that line is anyone with a Samsung Galaxy S5. Sure, it's a great pocket YouTube viewer, but as a phone, it's a fracking piece of garbage.
Secondly, all my texts and emails are encrypted. Go to Hell, NSA.
Why do you think everybody who's anybody in government carries a Blackberry?
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 23 2015,11:08 am
^^do you have something to hide?
Posted by Botto 82 on Apr. 23 2015,11:21 am
Tons. ;)
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 23 2015,11:26 am
^^
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 23 2015,3:28 pm
I voted for Perot not Clinton, George H. W. Bush's administration negotiated NAFTA starting in 1990, Clinton was dumb enough to sign this Republican POS. Posted by Botto 82 on Apr. 23 2015,4:14 pm
I voted for Perot, too. I think what killed his campaign more than anything was Stockdale's feeble performance at the Vice Presidential Debate.
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 23 2015,4:18 pm
I'll have to agree, his selection of a running mate hurt him.
Posted by alcitizens on Apr. 23 2015,5:07 pm
People will need a Technical School Education to make a living or they'll be working at Walmart or low pay unskilled job..
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 23 2015,6:55 pm
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 23 2015,7:15 pm
Posted by hymiebravo on Apr. 23 2015,8:23 pm
I vaguely remember Ross P-row stopping his campaign, when it really seemed to have quite a head of steam, then starting it up again. Coming back after that only helped defeat Bush and put Clinton in office.
Or so I vaguely remember all the disgruntled Bush supporters telling me.
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 24 2015,7:21 am
As I Recall it, Perot said he dropped out because of fears over the safety of his family. Obviously Perot had little faith in the Secret Service, FBI, CIA , or were they the cause of his threat fears? Let me see now who was it that previously ran the CIA, oh yeah George H. W. Bush! Perot stated Republican operatives had wanted to reveal compromising photographs of his daughter, which would disrupt her wedding, and he wanted to spare her from embarrassment. We all know Republicans are of the upmost integrity, they’d never pull dirty tricks like that!
He did restart his campaign and once again gained steam, even to lead in the polls for a time, I felt the Reform Party was a real change, but Stockdale’s performance, no disrespect for the man, he’s a true military man and Perot’s knuckling under to threat kept the” rascals in office.”
Posted by Glad I Left on Apr. 24 2015,9:38 am
(alcitizens @ Apr. 23 2015,5:07 pm)
QUOTE
People will need a Technical School Education to make a living or they'll be working at Walmart or low pay unskilled job..
I have the former, and I get paid as much as many people with a 4yr degree. As for the latter... maybe we should just raise the minnimum wage to $15 that way they can be high paid low skilled jobs
Posted by Liberal on Apr. 24 2015,9:46 am
That should really show our children the value of an education. Why even bother with high school if you can get $15 an hour flipping burgers or stocking shelves?
Posted by Botto 82 on Apr. 24 2015,9:55 am
If steak and hamburger cost the same, which would you choose?
Posted by Glad I Left on Apr. 24 2015,1:09 pm
(Liberal @ Apr. 24 2015,9:46 am)
QUOTE
That should really show our children the value of an education. Why even bother with high school if you can get $15 an hour flipping burgers or stocking shelves?
That might be the quote of the day!
Posted by stardust14 on Apr. 24 2015,9:54 pm
When social/personal values are determined by a full truckload of foreign produced garbage parked in a Slavemart parking lot. This is an attempt to perfect imperialism. And avoid any moral responsibility. Being aware of, and purchasing as few blood products as possible is one thing. Profiteering from wage slavery from Communist/despot/brutal societies is quite another.
Posted by Expatriate on May 03 2015,8:06 am
Trans Pacific Trickle-Down EconomicsROBERT B. REICH
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Have we learned nothing from thirty years of failed trickle-down economics?
By now we should know that when big corporations, Wall Street, and the wealthy get special goodies, the rest of us get shafted. The Reagan and George W. Bush tax cuts of 1981, 2001, and 2003, respectively, were sold to America as ways to boost the economy and create jobs.They ended up boosting the take-home pay of those at the top. Most Americans saw no gains.
In fact, the long stagnation of American wages began with Reaganomics. Wages rose a bit under Bill Clinton, and then started plummeting again under George W. Bush.
Trickle-down economics proved a cruel hoax. The new jobs created under Reagan and George W. Bush paid lousy wages, the old jobs paid even less, and we ended up with whopping federal budget deficits.
Then came the bailout of Wall Street in 2008. It was sold as the means of preserving the economy.
It ended up preserving the jobs and exorbitant pay of bankers, but millions of Americans lost their shirts. Small savers were wiped out, and homeowners never got the refinancing they were promised.
No conditions were put on the Wall Street banks for what they were supposed to do for the rest of us in return for our bailing them out. None of their top executives even went to jail for causing the crash in the first place.
Here again, nothing trickled down.
Now comes the Trans Pacific Partnership.
It’s being sold as a way to boost the U.S. economy, expand exports, and contain China’s widening economic influence.
In fact, it’s just more trickle-down economics.
The biggest beneficiaries would be giant American-based global corporations, along with their executives and major shareholders.
Those giant corporations initiated the deal in the first place, their lobbyists helped craft it behind closed doors, and they’re the ones who have been pushing hard for it in Congress – dangling campaign contributions in front of congressional supporters and threatening to cut off funding to opponents.
These corporations made sure the deal contains provisions expanding and protecting their intellectual property around the world, but not protecting American jobs.
Supporters of the deal say it contains worker protections. I heard the same thing when, as secretary of labor, I was supposed to implement the worker protections in the North American Free Trade Act.
I discovered such provisions are unenforceable because of how difficult it is to discover if other nations are abiding by them. On the rare occasion when we found evidence of a breach we had no way to force the other nation to remedy it anyway.
The Trans Pacific Partnership is far larger than NAFTA – covering 40 percent of America’s global trade.
If it’s enacted, American workers and consumers will be made even worse off because of another provision that allows global corporations to sue countries whose health, safety, labor, or environmental regulations crimp their corporate profits.
It establishes a tribunal outside any nation’s legal system that can force a nation to reimburse global corporations for any such “losses.”
Big tobacco is already using an identical provision to sue developing nations that are trying to get their populations off nicotine. The tobacco companies are demanding these nations compensate them for lost cigarette sales.
This provision would mean less protection from corporate harms here in America. It would require that when the potential cost of a new health, safety, environment, or labor protection is weighed against its potential benefits, the cost of reimbursing corporations for lost profits is added in.
I’ve been through enough regulatory wars to know this added cost could easily tip the balance against protection.
The arguments in favor of the deal aren’t credible. The notion that the Trans Pacific Partnership will spark American exports doesn’t hold because the deal does nothing to prevent other nations from manipulating their currencies in order to boost their own exports.
The argument that the deal will help contain China makes even less sense.
Does anyone seriously believe American-based corporations will put the interest of the United States above the interests of their own shareholders when it comes to doing whatever China demands to gain access to that lucrative market?
Big American-based corporations have been cozying up to China for years – giving China whatever American technology China wants, letting China “partner” with them in designing new generations of technology, and allowing China to censor their software and digital platforms – all in exchange for a crack at Chinese consumers.
What we should have learned by now about trickle-down economics is that nothing trickles down.
If the Trans Pacific Partnership is enacted, big corporations, Wall Street, and their top executives and shareholders will make out like bandits. Who will the bandits be stealing from? The rest of us.
YOU MUST TAKE ACTION NOW
The heinous Trans Pacific Partnership is now moving in Congress. It’s not really about trade – most tariffs are now low – but about making the world safer for global corporations. It allows big global corporations to sue countries for health, safety, environmental, and labor protections that reduce corporate profits. Its so-called labor and environmental protections are unenforceable. And rather than strengthen America’s hand against China (as its proponents claim), it only strengthens the hands of giant American-based corporations – whose loyalty is to their shareholders rather than to the United States. (These corporations will do whatever China wants if it helps their bottom lines.)
It’s a bad deal for Americans. Please call your senators and your representative and tell them you don’t want the Trans Pacific Partnership, and you don’t want “fast-track” that allows it to speed through Congress without debate or amendment.
Posted by Self-Banished on May 03 2015,10:04 am
^^You're damned right! I called my congressman and told him to vote for it,$$$
Posted by alcitizens on May 04 2015,8:00 pm
(Glad I Left @ Apr. 24 2015,9:38 am)
QUOTE
(alcitizens @ Apr. 23 2015,5:07 pm)
QUOTE
People will need a Technical School Education to make a living or they'll be working at Walmart or low pay unskilled job..
I have the former, and I get paid as much as many people with a 4yr degree. As for the latter... maybe we should just raise the minnimum wage to $15 that way they can be high paid low skilled jobs
Those technical service jobs are the way to go while still making a good living that can't be shipped oversea's.. And you don't need an Associate's or Bachelor's degree.. They should also be willing to relocate for the really good money..
Back to supply and demand.. Some area's like Albert Lea have to pay higher wages for restaurant help because we have so many eating places and school kids that think its demeaning to work at them..
School kids need to learn that you have to start at the bottom and work your way up.. You don't start out making $15 an hour unless you go fracking for oil in North Dakota or have technical training.. $15 an hour is also pushed to get people off of welfare, saving the government and taxpayer's money..
Kids need to be taught how much it costs to cook their own meal VS eating out.. Then we might not have so many restaurants requiring high paid kids..
Posted by Expatriate on May 10 2015,1:52 pm
Posted by Self-Banished on May 10 2015,3:14 pm
^^it will create wealth 
Posted by Expatriate on May 10 2015,5:29 pm
Posted by Expatriate on May 11 2015,6:43 am
Posted by Botto 82 on May 11 2015,7:21 am
(Self-Banished @ May 10 2015,3:14 pm)
QUOTE
^^it will create wealth
For who?
Posted by Self-Banished on May 11 2015,8:39 am
(Botto 82 @ May 11 2015,7:21 am)
QUOTE
(Self-Banished @ May 10 2015,3:14 pm)
QUOTE
^^it will create wealth
For who?
Me
Posted by grassman on May 11 2015,9:04 am
...oh right, you.
Posted by Expatriate on May 11 2015,9:21 am
Posted by Self-Banished on May 11 2015,9:24 am
(grassman @ May 11 2015,9:04 am)
QUOTE
...oh right, you.
When an opportunity presents itself one should take advantage before it goes away.
Posted by grassman on May 11 2015,10:03 am
(Self-Banished @ May 11 2015,9:24 am)
QUOTE
(grassman @ May 11 2015,9:04 am)
QUOTE
...oh right, you.
When an opportunity presents itself one should take advantage before it goes away.
You mean like welfare, food stamps and health care?
Posted by Self-Banished on May 11 2015,10:11 am
^^ if you're into being a deadbeat I suppose.
Posted by MADDOG on May 11 2015,10:15 am
(grassman @ May 11 2015,10:03 am)
QUOTE
(Self-Banished @ May 11 2015,9:24 am)
QUOTE
(grassman @ May 11 2015,9:04 am)
QUOTE
...oh right, you.
When an opportunity presents itself one should take advantage before it goes away.
You mean like welfare, food stamps and health care?
Right. Before it goes away.
SB,
QUOTE
When an opportunity presents itself one should take advantage before it goes away.
Reminds me of a quote someone once said.QUOTE
When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
-Yogi Berra
-Yogi Berra
Posted by Self-Banished on May 11 2015,10:53 am
^^just remember, it ain't over til it's over.
Posted by Botto 82 on May 11 2015,11:43 am
(Self-Banished @ May 11 2015,9:24 am)
QUOTE
(grassman @ May 11 2015,9:04 am)
QUOTE
...oh right, you.
When an opportunity presents itself one should take advantage before it goes away.
Like delivering Nestlé bottled water. To Hell with California!
Posted by Expatriate on May 11 2015,6:39 pm
Posted by Self-Banished on May 12 2015,2:15 am
^^the jobs were shipped to China because of cheaper labor and less environmental regulationsWhat right do you have to another mans life of achievement?
Posted by Expatriate on May 12 2015,5:56 am
QUOTE
(Botto 82 @ May 11 2015,5:54 pm)
QUOTE
Tariffs on all imports would be a nice start..
QUOTE
Tariffs on all imports would be a nice start..
SB-quote
QUOTE
Nasty little thing about that is that it's a two way street, we raise the tariff on products coming into this country, other countries raise the tariff on our products going into theirs. Other countries would be hurt by rising tariffs but there are other developing economies around the world.
We're the big boy on the block as far as consumers go but we're not the only game in town.
For us to rebuild our industrial might with present regulations would probably take decades.
We're the big boy on the block as far as consumers go but we're not the only game in town.
For us to rebuild our industrial might with present regulations would probably take decades.
How does the American worker compete with Vietnamese worker making 56 cents an hour?
What does the average Vietnamese buy from America, this isn’t about trade, it’s about cheap labor
for Corporate America!
Free trade may be great for short term Corporate profit but the long term damage to the American
worker and America’s overall financial well-being is devastating!
Free trade must be curtailed and replaced with fair trade, where we export products not jobs.
Posted by Self-Banished on May 12 2015,6:40 am
Fare trade in who's opinion?
Posted by Expatriate on May 12 2015,7:44 am
You’ve called me a Socialist with hate in your words on numerous occasions, yet you’re willing export our jobs and wealth to Communist countries, countries with state supported industry & workers, even American Corporations fall under Communist rules. We are enriching countries with ideological differences that make them adversely opposed to our way of life!
It’s not their "right" to sell their goods on the American consumer market. It's a privilege. It's a privilege that's been abused, thanks to policies pushed by our globalist plutocratic legislators.
It is our "right" as Americans to forbid foreign manufacturers, even if American-owned, from selling their goods in our country. That right is guaranteed in the Constitution. As such, it is our right as Americans to protect our own jobs, and push legislation (and tariffs) to handicap unpatriotic free (traitors) when selling slave-labor produced goods on the American market.
If it weren't for American workers relatively high wages, the American consumer wouldn't have the buying power to purchase the free (traitors) foreign-produced goods.
When we export our jobs & wealth to import goods and enrich people who hold US in disdain it’s not smart business.
Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 1 of the United States Constitution:
QUOTE
The Congress shall have power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and to promote the general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
Posted by grassman on May 12 2015,8:50 am
You have to have a product, to grow an economy. If all the products come from other countries, eventually this country is broke. Oh wait, it all ready is. Never mind. 
Posted by Self-Banished on May 12 2015,9:01 am
(Expatriate @ May 12 2015,7:44 am)
QUOTE
You’ve called me a Socialist with hate in your words on numerous occasions,
It’s not their "right" to sell their goods on the American consumer market. It's a privilege. It's a privilege that's been abused, thanks to policies pushed by our globalist plutocratic legislators.
It is our "right" as Americans to forbid foreign manufacturers, even if American-owned, from selling their goods in our country. That right is guaranteed in the Constitution. As such, it is our right as Americans to protect our own jobs, and push legislation (and tariffs) to handicap unpatriotic free (traitors) when selling slave-labor produced goods on the American market.
If it weren't for American workers relatively high wages, the American consumer wouldn't have the buying power to purchase the free (traitors) foreign-produced goods.
When we export our jobs & wealth to import goods and enrich people who hold US in disdain it’s not smart business.
Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 1 of the United States Constitution:
The Congress shall have power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and to promote the general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
It’s not their "right" to sell their goods on the American consumer market. It's a privilege. It's a privilege that's been abused, thanks to policies pushed by our globalist plutocratic legislators.
It is our "right" as Americans to forbid foreign manufacturers, even if American-owned, from selling their goods in our country. That right is guaranteed in the Constitution. As such, it is our right as Americans to protect our own jobs, and push legislation (and tariffs) to handicap unpatriotic free (traitors) when selling slave-labor produced goods on the American market.
If it weren't for American workers relatively high wages, the American consumer wouldn't have the buying power to purchase the free (traitors) foreign-produced goods.
When we export our jobs & wealth to import goods and enrich people who hold US in disdain it’s not smart business.
Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 1 of the United States Constitution:
QUOTE
The Congress shall have power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and to promote the general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
Americans excercise their right to purchase products from other countries everyday. Between myself and my other truck we'll probably empty 40 to 50 various size containers this week. Do you purchase 100% American made products, manufactured here from start to finish?
Container ships offload every day in various ports in America, some like the Merisk Emma have a capacity of 12000 containers.
People buy and sell products from those container, it's not a privilege, it's a right to make a living. You're just pissed off the unions are dying.
Posted by Expatriate on May 12 2015,9:10 am
You've edited my post, please refrain from this in the future when you quote my posts!QUOTE
Posted on: May 12 2015,7:44 am
You’ve called me a Socialist with hate in your words on numerous occasions, yet you’re willing export our jobs and wealth to Communist countries, countries with state supported industry & workers, even American Corporations fall under Communist rules. We are enriching countries with ideological differences that make them adversely
opposed to our way of life!
It’s not their "right" to sell their goods on the American consumer market. It's a privilege. It's a privilege that's been abused, thanks to policies pushed by our globalist plutocratic legislators.
It is our "right" as Americans to forbid foreign manufacturers, even if American-owned, from selling their goods in our country. That right is guaranteed in the Constitution. As such, it is our right as Americans to protect our own jobs, and push legislation (and tariffs) to handicap unpatriotic free (traitors) when selling slave-labor produced goods on the American market.
If it weren't for American workers relatively high wages, the American consumer wouldn't have the buying power to purchase the free (traitors) foreign-produced goods.
When we export our jobs & wealth to import goods and enrich people who hold US in disdain it’s not smart business.
Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 1 of the United States Constitution:
QUOTE
The Congress shall have power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and to promote the general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
You’ve called me a Socialist with hate in your words on numerous occasions, yet you’re willing export our jobs and wealth to Communist countries, countries with state supported industry & workers, even American Corporations fall under Communist rules. We are enriching countries with ideological differences that make them adversely
opposed to our way of life!
It’s not their "right" to sell their goods on the American consumer market. It's a privilege. It's a privilege that's been abused, thanks to policies pushed by our globalist plutocratic legislators.
It is our "right" as Americans to forbid foreign manufacturers, even if American-owned, from selling their goods in our country. That right is guaranteed in the Constitution. As such, it is our right as Americans to protect our own jobs, and push legislation (and tariffs) to handicap unpatriotic free (traitors) when selling slave-labor produced goods on the American market.
If it weren't for American workers relatively high wages, the American consumer wouldn't have the buying power to purchase the free (traitors) foreign-produced goods.
When we export our jobs & wealth to import goods and enrich people who hold US in disdain it’s not smart business.
Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 1 of the United States Constitution:
QUOTE
The Congress shall have power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and to promote the general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
Posted by Self-Banished on May 12 2015,9:15 am
^^yep, they most certainly doBut there's a fine line between imposing tariffs and pissing of an alli nation.
Besides, you wouldn't want to piss off those po' widdle longshoreman would you.😄
Posted by Expatriate on May 12 2015,9:22 am
As grassman alluded to, the long-term consequences of free traitor policy leads in one direction, our financial demise as a Nation.
Posted by Botto 82 on May 12 2015,10:05 am
(Expatriate @ May 12 2015,9:22 am)
QUOTE
As grassman alluded to, the long-term consequences of free traitor policy leads in one direction, our financial demise as a Nation.
This is just another attempt at forestalling the inevitable, namely the collapse of the U.S. dollar, and it no longer being the world's reserve currency. Nobody wants to see that on their watch, so they gleefully kick the can down the road with crap like TPP. Meanwhile, the military-industrial complex makes one last money grab, trying to make Iran out to be a bigger boogeyman than it really is.
Long-term impact hasn't been in our collective vocabulary since Reagan. Only short-term profits matter now.
Posted by Self-Banished on May 12 2015,10:24 am
^^ by George he gets itPretty damned smart
Yeah, we're pretty much screwed so might as well grab what you can while you can.
Posted by Expatriate on May 12 2015,11:44 am
Posted by Self-Banished on May 12 2015,12:01 pm
The Ed show
Posted by Expatriate on May 12 2015,6:50 pm
Posted by Grinning_Dragon on May 13 2015,7:00 am
Isn't this the trade deal that is secret and one of those we need to pass it to find out whats in it? Along with closed door secret meetings?Searching on this trade topic has yielded some red flags about this deal.
Yeah, I'm against it.
Posted by grassman on May 13 2015,7:15 am
(Grinning_Dragon @ May 13 2015,7:00 am)
QUOTE
Isn't this the trade deal that is secret and one of those we need to pass it to find out whats in it? Along with closed door secret meetings?
Searching on this trade topic has yielded some red flags about this deal.
Yeah, I'm against it.
Searching on this trade topic has yielded some red flags about this deal.
Yeah, I'm against it.
Senate deals stinging defeat to Obama trade agenda
Senate Democrats on Tuesday delivered a stinging blow to President Obama’s trade agenda by voting to prevent the chamber from picking up fast-track legislation.
A motion to cut off a filibuster and proceed to the trade bill fell short of a 60-vote hurdle in the 52-45 vote. Sen. Tom Carper (Del.) was the only Democrat to back it.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) switched his vote from yes to no to reserve his ability to return to the measure at a later date.
Fast-track is a top legislative priority for the White House, but it has run into significant Senate opposition that has been led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
It faces even more opposition from Democrats in the House, and the surprise Senate failure will raise doubts about whether the legislation will make its way through Congress.
Labor unions and other left-leaning groups have declared war on the fast-track bill, which they argue has shipped jobs overseas. The Senate is generally a more pro-trade body than the House, and it has been easier to move trade agreements through the upper chamber.
The standoff Tuesday focused on procedure, though there is significant opposition to fast-track itself in the Democratic conference.
Senate Democrats demanded that McConnell combine the fast-track bill with three other pieces of trade legislation, including a customs bill that would address currency manipulation.
The opposition included Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and other pro-trade Democrats who back the fast-track bill.
“The group is concerned about the lack of a commitment to trade enforcement, which is specifically the customs bill,” Wyden told reporters in explaining his opposition.
McConnell has offered to bring to the floor a package combining fast-track, which is also known as Trade Promotion Authority, and Trade Adjustment Assistance, which helps workers displaced by foreign competition.
But McConnell has refused to combine those bills with the customs and enforcement act, which includes language cracking down on currency manipulation, and a package of trade preferences for sub-Saharan Africa.
“Until there is a path to get all four bills passed ... we will, certainly most of us, have to vote no,” Wyden said.
Wyden was joined by Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Mark Warner (Va.).
“I would urge you to withhold judgement about the president’s persuasion ability until we’ve had an opportunity until we’ve had a chance to advance this legislation,” Earnest said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the panel, tried to hash out a last-minute agreement to allow the trade package to come to the floor but were unsuccessful.
Hatch said he would urge McConnell to pull the trade package from the floor if Democrats block it.
It could return in the next two weeks but Tuesday’s setback means it will be very difficult to pass trade legislation before the Memorial Day recess.
Two Republican presidential candidates, Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rand Paul (Ky.), voted in favor of moving to the trade bill.
Another candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), missed the vote, as did Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is considering a White House run. Rubio and Graham also missed Monday's votes.
Posted by Expatriate on May 14 2015,6:33 am
Posted by Self-Banished on May 14 2015,11:15 am
^^ just how is he proposing to do this?
Posted by Expatriate on May 14 2015,5:55 pm
Posted by Expatriate on May 14 2015,6:55 pm
(Self-Banished @ May 14 2015,11:15 am)
QUOTE
^^ just how is he proposing to do this?
Posted by Botto 82 on May 14 2015,7:08 pm
Like TPP is the first thing to do that...
Posted by Marneman on May 14 2015,7:56 pm
NO! NO! NO! 
Ever since NAFTA every trade agreement we sign on to we get the crap end of the stick. As for foreign countries raising tariffs on our goods if we raise it on theirs F*** 'em,
maybe we can start producing those items here again instead of importing their cheap made crap.
Posted by Moparman on May 16 2015,6:44 am
I wonder how all these "get it while I can" anti-american d-bags feel about how these types of "agreements" make it easier for counterfiet, and often dangerous, products like pharmaceuticals, airbags, makeup, children's toys, pet food, etc to reach the American public. I'm guessing they could care less and that's the real problem with this country today.
Posted by Self-Banished on May 16 2015,4:20 pm
(Moparman @ May 16 2015,6:44 am)
QUOTE
I wonder how all these "get it while I can" anti-american d-bags feel about how these types of "agreements" make it easier for counterfiet, and often dangerous, products like pharmaceuticals, airbags, makeup, children's toys, pet food, etc to reach the American public. I'm guessing they could care less and that's the real problem with this country today.
It's quite simple, be a careful shopper.
Nobody says you have to buy products made in another country, some are inferior, some are quite a bit superior. Once again, I pull for making your own decisions. It works for consumerism and it works for labor Where you been Union boy?
Posted by MADDOG on May 16 2015,4:32 pm
Too late on the airbags, Moparman. Manufactured in Japan by < Takata >.
Posted by Botto 82 on May 16 2015,4:55 pm
(Moparman @ May 16 2015,6:44 am)
QUOTE
"get it while I can" anti-american d-bags
Spot-on analysis. We should export them to China.
Posted by Self-Banished on May 16 2015,5:22 pm
^^anti American?? OH, you mean Union members Talk to me, I can arrange shipping, ' get you a good price too.
Posted by Expatriate on May 30 2015,7:19 am
Posted by Expatriate on Jun. 04 2015,7:00 am
< http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ >
Posted by MADDOG on Jun. 04 2015,10:44 am
QUOTE
< “I support President Obama’s Secret Trade Deal”. >
WikiLeaks on Wednesday released 17 different documents related to the Trade in Services Agreement (Tisa), a controversial pact currently being hashed out between the US and 23 other countries – most of them in Europe and South America.
The document dump comes at a tense moment in the negotiations over a series of trade deals. President Barack Obama has clashed with his own party over the deals as critics have worried about the impact on jobs and civil liberties.
On Tuesday, WikiLeaks put a $100,000 bounty on documents relating to the alphabet soup of trade treaties currently being negotiated between the US and the rest of the world, particularly the controversial Trans-Pacific trade agreement (TPP). The offer, announced yesterday, has already raised more than $33,000.
Keep reading < Wikileaks Trade in Services Agreement >
WikiLeaks on Wednesday released 17 different documents related to the Trade in Services Agreement (Tisa), a controversial pact currently being hashed out between the US and 23 other countries – most of them in Europe and South America.
The document dump comes at a tense moment in the negotiations over a series of trade deals. President Barack Obama has clashed with his own party over the deals as critics have worried about the impact on jobs and civil liberties.
On Tuesday, WikiLeaks put a $100,000 bounty on documents relating to the alphabet soup of trade treaties currently being negotiated between the US and the rest of the world, particularly the controversial Trans-Pacific trade agreement (TPP). The offer, announced yesterday, has already raised more than $33,000.
Keep reading < Wikileaks Trade in Services Agreement >
Posted by Expatriate on Jun. 13 2015,6:21 am
Posted by Self-Banished on Jun. 13 2015,6:34 am
^^ funny as hell, your "boy" got taken to the woodshed yesterday by his own party.With that son of a bitches ego I bet he's been doing a slow burn since
Posted by Expatriate on Jun. 13 2015,6:42 am
It’s was the American worker who’d had enough of these trade deal lies, the thing is not dead just wounded now we’ve got to stomp the thing to death!
Posted by Self-Banished on Jun. 13 2015,6:46 am
^^you're a union hack, you know nothing about being a worker Keep going though, wally's being a little coy this morning.
Posted by Expatriate on Jun. 13 2015,6:50 am
Cognitive decline won’t be a problem for you Dumbo, if you’ve never had it you can’t lose it!TPP is not mainly about trade. Of TPP's 29 draft chapters, only five deal with traditional trade issues. One chapter would provide incentives to offshore jobs to low-wage countries. Many would impose limits on government policies that we rely on in our daily lives for safe food, a clean environment, and more. Our domestic federal, state and local policies would be required to comply with TPP rules.
< http://www.citizen.org/TPP >
Posted by Self-Banished on Jun. 13 2015,6:53 am
^^ yep and idiots like you will continue to buy the crap that comes from those countries, I bet your apartment looks like Walmart exploded
Posted by Expatriate on Jun. 15 2015,6:03 am
Posted by Expatriate on Jun. 22 2015,9:15 am
Posted by Self-Banished on Jun. 22 2015,9:30 am
^^yep, almost there, your boy!
Posted by Expatriate on Jun. 22 2015,9:35 am
Driving your boys right over the cliff!
Posted by Self-Banished on Jun. 22 2015,9:42 am
My boys?
Posted by Expatriate on Jun. 23 2015,7:42 am
^ Oh yeah, I forgot, you're an independent
Posted by Self-Banished on Jun. 23 2015,10:06 am
^^ wow, despite the pic you might be actually starting to get it.Is this a moment of clarity for you or did you just get get lucky and are still stupid as hell?
Posted by Expatriate on Jun. 23 2015,10:10 am
^
Posted by Self-Banished on Jun. 23 2015,12:18 pm
^^ wow, pull that out of your ass?
Posted by Self-Banished on Jun. 23 2015,2:52 pm
Looks like it's a done deal, one more simple majority vote and Buster owns it.How 'bout that dumbass? Your boy hosed you over the coals.
< http://thehill.com/policy...r-obama >
Posted by Expatriate on Jun. 24 2015,8:08 am
Posted by alcitizens on Jun. 25 2015,11:10 am
Republican-Led Congress Hands Obama Major Win on Trade< http://abcnews.go.com/Politic...1986267 >
Posted by Self-Banished on Jun. 25 2015,11:12 am
More $$ for me^^