Here it comes: The Fast Track (TPA) freight train to shove the TPP down our throats

[Divernan]

75. Corporations/ALEC have been drafting bills for decades at state and federal levels.

I started working for the Dem. caucus of a state legislature in 1993 and was disgusted to learn it was business as usual that lobbyists made the rounds of both Democratic and Republican state house and senate members - with a check in one hand and an already drafted bill in the other. And that was well before SCOTUS sold the country out to corporations in its Citizens United decision. There was a handful of state reps/senators who had integrity and could not be bought off - I'm talking about 1/20th at the most. They were ridiculed by the rest as being fools who did not know how the game was played, and of course they were blocked from ever, ever, ever being appointed to chair committees in their respective chambers, or elected to any leadership positions within their respective caucuses. Our top 2 Dem. leaders from that period are both in prison now for malfeasance - prosecuted by a Republican state Attorney General, who never got around to investigating or prosecuting GOP members.

Switch channels to today's presidential wannabe, Hillary Clinton. How can anyone in their remotely right mind look at the millions paid/donated to the Clintons and or their Foundation in the past years by the One Percenters and corporate/banking interests and kid themselves that those dollars were paid/"donated" with no strings attached. Those were corporate investments. Bill Clinton's exorbitant speaking fees have netted him a personal worth of over $50 MILLION since he left office. That's personal worth, not his Foundation. Whenever there is a conflict of interest between corporate profits and public interests, there is no question on which side Mrs. Clinton will come down.