The Trans-Pacific Partnership Could 'Establish a War of All Against All'

I've been fairly skeptical on the whole idea of the NWO for a while now. After reading this? Not so much. Is this how it begins, people? We're being sold out.
Source - VICE News

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is coming, and it could give multinational corporations even more influence over global policy. That’s what critics of the trade deal between 12 countries along the Pacific Rim (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam) are saying. It’s not helping that the contents of the agreement have largely been kept secret, even though the TPP is the biggest trade deal since the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1995.

What’s known about the TPP’s 29 chapters — of which only five cover trade, and only three have been leaked — has sent chills through activists on both ends of the political spectrum. Here’s a breakdown of the five biggest issues the TPP presents:

It’s Being Kept Secret From the World

Thanks to leaks published by Citizens Trade Campaign and WikiLeaks, we’ve seen draft chapters of the environmental, investment and intellectual property sections of the TPP. But the rest is a mystery, and mainstream media coverage has been scant.

Obama himself has remarked that “objections, protest, rumors” and “conspiracy theories” around the TPP are inevitable, reflecting a “lack of knowledge of what is going on in the negotiations.”

That “lack of knowledge” isn’t elective, however. Though TPP stakeholders, including 600 corporations and multiple labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, are allowed access to the draft, the public is not. Even Congress is being kept on a short leash — while a few Congress members have been allowed to read draft text of the trade agreement, they’ve also been sworn to secrecy about what they’ve seen.

“I read some sections of a draft of the TPP that identified sections that were still being negotiated, that did not identify what positions were being taken by which countries,” Florida Representative Alan Grayson told VICE News.

“A number of staffers from the Trade Representative’s office came, brought the document with them, and insisted on staying in the room and looking at me as I read the document.”

His general take on what he read, even if he can’t reveal the details? “It would be a punch in the face to the middle class of America. But I can’t tell you why.”

The investor-state dispute settlement provision (ISDS) of the TPP would allow foreign investors to sue governments over domestic policy that might diminish their profits. Hypothetically, for instance, an agribusiness company could sue a country that bans GMOs in order to recoup lost profits. This has already been possible, to some extent, under NAFTA — as in the cases “Eli Lilly v. Canada” and “Metalclad v. Mexico” — yet these rules do not apply to countries governed by the WTO. The TPP would extend NAFTA-style ISDS to the 12 participating countries.

Lori Wallach, the director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, told VICE News that the ISDS “would formalize the elevation of individual corporations and investors to equal status with nation states.”

Grayson is ferociously clear about what the effect will be: “The TPP would destroy our ability to govern ourselves. In large part, what you’d see is something between corporate rule and anarchy… It establishes a Hobbesian war of all against all.”

It would almost seem that the TPP may be part of some deep state operation .Despite some people questioning the deal and wanting details not a lot has been added to the public's knowledge .

In Australia we got the corporate sue government clause about 5 or 10 years ago with the Free Trade Agreement back then. In some ways it has helped get the lobbying out of government due to the legal oversight. One example is cigarette policy with plain packaging and massive tax. The cigarette companies are in a bad mood, but got their ass kicked in court with all the medical issues and social costs side of things. When the future costs cannot lobby with the current costs, having some mechanism to kick some corporate bums can be good.

As such as policy does go more global, different courts and jurisdictions will have their own issues.

a reply to: kwakakev

Get rid of lobbying in government? Lord knows we need that here in the US. Perhaps thats why this politician is so riled up about it.

Thanks for adding a different perspective from your first-hand experience. Have you seen any downsides of note since the passage of this clause? Also, is this issue being discussed more openly in Aus, as it is one of the countries involved in the TPP?

Admittedly, this is a rather one-sided article... Yet, how we can we get both sides of the story under such vast secrecy measures...

the setup for corporate rule has been incubating for some time....WTO, APAC, NAFTA, GATT, the continued off-shoring of jobs, the bailouts of the financial institutions with taxpayer money in 2008, the continued onslaught against unions, the recent rulings by our own supreme court giving personhood and religious freedom rights to corporations. the never-ending whining and legislation for tax cuts to the wealthy, the corporations decades-old barrage of lobbying for the privatizing of government institutions...the list goes on, the pressure never stops, the death by a thousand cuts to the American citizens future.....

Anytime an agreement is kept secret the people get shagged bigtime .. moreso when theres corporate involvement ..

a reply to: CloudsTasteMetallic

As for down sides, I have not followed it very closely. There seams to be a lot more threats or things getting sorted out before actually getting to court. Depends on what types of remediation, demand and legal supply is going on as for what gets followed.

I did hear about it though the public broadcaster (ABC radio) at the time it went through. The minor Green party slammed it pretty hard in Parliament, the two major parties let it through. The main place I have heard TTP is here, occasionally might have a quick photo shot on the tv when multi head of state meetings happen.

If you want to look into it more you can try searching Australia United States Free Trade Agreement 2005.

a reply to: CloudsTasteMetallic

SF for you. It always amazes me that this doesn't get talked about much on ATS. This is one of the mother lode conspiracies and only a handful of us post about it. This is what corporations and the 1% of the the 1% having been buying politicians for. This is one of the most major reasons the hatred between people who vote the two party system has been being stoked so furiously as to be on the brink of civil war...

Think about how many people you know or see in political discussions that nothing matters to them more than pissing off a democrat/republican/liberal/conservative/teaparty/occupier/leftist/rightwinger, fewer and fewer people care if their guy is right for the job only that it's not the other guy. Perfect set-up to flood Congress and the Courts with paid puppets.

All of that has lead to the TPP... not the New World Order but the Old World Order taking it's throne.

a reply to: CloudsTasteMetallic

I am surprised that this surprises people anymore.

THEY immanentized the eschaton the very day that the buildings came down on 9/11, but everything that has happened since that moment has been in the works for a very, very long time.
My generation is the first to be less well off than their parents at the same age.
The baby boomers are spending their money with reckless abandon and will leave nothing for their families after they die.
But somewhere down deep they know that the money will be worthless soon anyway. I don't blame them for blowing the family capital that was accumulated over centuries due to the Protestant ethic. (I am not a christian btw...)

To (kind of) quote George Carlin...
We are not just Eff'ed.
We are shockingly Eff'ed.

Cheers. Great topic. S & F.

a reply to: Kali74

How the US courts would go is another concern. It does look like they got a knockdown with 9/11, lots have tried but all got quickly stopped. With corporate resources out spending to gain a legal advantage, governments are one agent that can match this approach should the complexity of the case call for it.

As for the general TTP approach, when trade first started things where pretty unbalanced. How much are those beads that bought Manhattan worth now? Trade sanction, taffies, taxes and other policies to protect industry and markets have been around for a long time. TTP is not perfect, but it is gradually moving towards a more balanced position.

a reply to: kwakakev

TTP is not perfect, but it is gradually moving towards a more balanced position.

I would love to hear you debate that topic, but we don't know what's in the thing. Of course trade is going to happen between nations, but simply because it's an effort to facilitate trade doesn't mean that it will gradually become more balanced.
It seems like you made a leap in logic there and you might be a fan of globalization.

A small group of people who represent the best interests of corporations are responsible for this. BY LAW these corporations have to look out for the best interests of their shareholders despite any moral or ethical concerns. Corporations are "persons" but they don't have a soul. THAT is what the law says.
And yet they can be people when it comes to the protections of civil law and civil rights.

This naturally creates a personality for this "legal fiction" that is no different than that of a sociopath.
The board and thus the legal fiction of a corporation are legally compelled to make the most money for their shareholders despite any moral or ethical concern.
The only concern that they have is what they are held to by law.
And since they can't serve jail time because they are not a "natural person", they can't be physically constrained. The only option beyond fining them, because if they are shrewd enough to pocket a lot of money then fines don't matter, is to force their board to be liable for criminal actions if they act in a way that is against the will of the people.
And charge them with espionage.

But that won't happen.

We have created a monster. None of this should come as any surprise to anyone and we can change course still, but we must educate ourselves and think critically and become vocally active on what we can do.
"Corporate reform" was a platform topic many years ago, but that meme got beat into the ground by the media.

Maybe it's because we are swimming among predators and those predators are called corporations.

How in the world do you think that they will ever make free trade between corporations balanced without government intervention?
You think the banksters taking our children's freaking future from us here in America is "more balanced" than the set of beads that bought Manhattan?
At least the natives had everything else when all they lost were some beads.
We lost a future for a generation that hasn't even been born yet...

a reply to: kwakakev

Ah, thanks for the info. I'll be doing some research on it. Fear of going to court is a great deterrent for the crooks. Gotta fire up that army of lawyers to weasel around how technically they're not morally bankrupt. And lawyers, well, they ain't exactly cheap.

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: CloudsTasteMetallic

It always amazes me that this doesn't get talked about much on ATS. This is one of the mother lode conspiracies and only a handful of us post about it. This is what corporations and the 1% of the the 1% having been buying politicians for. This is one of the most major reasons the hatred between people who vote the two party system has been being stoked so furiously as to be on the brink of civil war...

Think about how many people you know or see in political discussions that nothing matters to them more than pissing off a democrat/republican/liberal/conservative/teaparty/occupier/leftist/rightwinger, fewer and fewer people care if their guy is right for the job only that it's not the other guy. Perfect set-up to flood Congress and the Courts with paid puppets.

All of that has lead to the TPP... not the New World Order but the Old World Order taking it's throne.

Great point about the Old World Order. Thank you for shifting my thinking.

Now, I'm going to venture a guess as to why it isn't really discussed much. I believe it stems out a sense of hopelessness. Can we really do anything to change these plans? No. It's far easier to just wildly speculate about [whatever conspiracy theory cliche you prefer. Chemtrails, i guess?] rather than have a discussion over a factually-based, real-life conspiracy. Remember that old saying "The truth hurts?"

However, if we're all gonna get screwed by this (we will) ...I'd at least like to know exactly how hard.

Sometimes I wonder if what we need to do is to give the corporations everything they want but instantly. All the money in the world, control and we all comply to their every whim. This could go south in so many ways for the common folk but bear with me.
So now they have everything and you get something like Buy & Large from WALL•E. Ok corporations, what now? Build our roads, or build the infrastructure that self perpetuates the corporation. What next? I mean you have all the money so does an economy still exist? You don't pay workers, no economy. No economy no innovation for wealthy workers/businessmen to try to get money because one corporation has it all and it will buy any competitors. No competition in that arena will make society cease.
Why innovate? Why make change? Everything would be static and fully controlled. But for what purpose? What is left to do or conquer? Will there be an onset of boredom? So bored we go out into space and take over alien planets and create more boredom? What is the winning chess move in all this?
I say its the journey of the hunt for these people not really the destination, because the destination is a pretty god awful place to be for them, no conflict. So let's give them the destination. But maybe in a simulation instead of real life.

a reply to: kyviecaldges

When it comes to this globalization stuff I am trying to be a realist about it. It is the situation. Without business and corporations cities cannot last. They keep the lights on and food on the table for many people.

How in the world do you think that they will ever make free trade between corporations balanced without government intervention?

They wont. Trade affects everyone. How governments and business work together in a multinational environment is what a lot of the TTP is about. In is not meant to stop the small business with overburdening legislation or requirements, but meant for those organizations with the resources and budgets to address global trade issues. As better infrastructure to address these complexities is working then more gradual steps towards a more balanced system can be made. How credit cards can be used everywhere online is just one example how this slow, gradual, steady as she goes approach to global trade has been working.

a reply to: kwakakev

At what cost...

Sure there will be more jobs, but our PM has cut all the red tape between big business and our natural environment.

With a massive new "super BROWN coal mine", being constructed in east Gippsland, A rail link cutting the Tarra Bulgar "NATIONAL PARK", in half and a massive processing/shipping port to be built on top of the "soon to be former", Wilsons Promatory National Marine Park.

The de-regulation of a Major Tasmanian National Park for logging (for of all things, Toilet paper)...

This is just the beginning with several lobbies by the current government to de-regulate some 30 to 30 National parks around the country for foreign owned mining, logging and development "including heritage listed sites".

Jobs, yeah but this country will become a polluted, unattractive cesspool..!!

a reply to: Ironclad2000

I know. I did hear the plans for opening the Tasmanian National Park for logging got shut down at the UN. The plans to dredge a new port along the Great Barrier Reef for coal is concerning. If this must go ahead then using the dredging in land reclamation can help reduce some of the spillage. Not sure how the other environmental issues have been going.

A lot of gas and other mining going on all around the country, some communities have been able to defend against it better than others. The Liberals appear more liberal about these issues than Labor. Until some other energy technologies can be put on the table as a viable option, the demand for coal, oil and gas is there.

a reply to: CloudsTasteMetallic

I think it's not widely discussed (though I can't help but hope greater wisdom prevails) is the extreme partisan BS so many people are steeped in. Republicans/Conservatives/TPers maybe don't want to appear as attacking Capitalism (if they happen to see it as bad) but they also don't want to get caught praising Obama. A very vocal portion of voters are all for privatizing absolutely everything failing to see how short sighted such would be. Meanwhile Democrats/Liberals/Progressives know that this is being pushed by Obama and the latter group tends not to support massive trade deals (they also don't talk specifically about NAFTA because it happened under Clinton) they'll talk all day long about how bad these deals are as long as Clinton and Obama's names aren't attached (generally).

To clarify about the Old World Order... it's not specific people but the practice of doing business while outsourcing cost... labor, wage, safety, environmental, tariff and tax free.

a reply to: CloudsTasteMetallic

On the plausibility scale this is without doubt the scariest thing i've read in a while.

Non-elect CEOs will rule the world.

a reply to: CloudsTasteMetallic

You don't know what it says, but it has to evil, it just has to be. Hah. From that logic now I can be sure my girlfriend's diary is a plot to take away people's rights and impose martial law, cause she won't let me read it, that has to be what it is, it just has to be.