POLL on TPP Fast Track poll

[Armstead]

17. This is not only a liberal/conservative issue.

I don't know your motives, I assume they are sincere. But your insistence on lumping together all people who oppose the corporate version of "free trade" that is being imposed as right wingers is off the mark. I wish these agreements were as benign as you seem to think they are.

There is progressive revolt against these "free trade" agreements around the world.

The version of "free trade" we are talking about is part of a larger architecture in which nations are places at the mercy of multilateral Big Business Big Money forces. It is related to the current "austerity" being imposed on nations like Greece, and which have been used to assert control over the economies and politics of many poor countries over the years.

It's basically loan sharking on a large scale. Big Banks do the equivalent of overselling loans to nations, then when the nations get in over their heads, the Big Bankers impose draconian conditions on them, which amount to enforced "free market" restrictions on their social safety nets, public infrastructures, etc.

Using the criminal analogy, which is apt, "free trade" is a form of blackmail. "ya wanta sell your goods to other countries? Ya gotta play by our rules." And their rules mean protecting the profit margins of Big Money and the philosophy of pirate corporate capitalism.