Heads Up!! "Obama Ready to Defy Base in Order to Advance Trans-Pacific Partnership"

[OrwellwasRight]

189. It's not a plot.

It is a quite obvious attempt to lock in through trade agreements corporate rights and deregulatory policies that companies can't get in the normal democratic process.

Read what Wal-Mart wants out of trade agreements here: Sarah Thorn, Senior Director Federal Government Relations, Wal-Mart. Letter
to the Office of the US Trade Representative re International Services
Agreement. 26 February 2013. Online at: http://www.regulations.gov/
contentStreamer?objectId=090000648120a748&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf

Walmart has taken the position that TISA should prohibit restrictions not only on store size and hours of
operation but also on the ‘geographic location’ of stores - a direct attack on all local government zoning
authority. The public interest in walkable neighbourhoods, reducing the noise and negative impacts on
workers caused by extended store hours, preservation of heritage areas and other considerations could
end up being sacrificed in trade deals as negotiators pursue Walmart’s commercial interests.

Or read what the National Retail Federation has asked for in trade deals here: National Retail Federation. ‘Comments of the National Retail Federation regarding International Services Agreements: Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing’, 26 February 2013.
Online at: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=USTR-2013-0001-0050.

“ Work to ease regulations that affect retailing, including
store size restrictions and hours of operation that, while
not necessarily discriminatory, affect the ability of largescale
retailing to achieve operating efficiencies...”

There are frankly not more important things to worry about than locking in neoliberal economic policy for forever.

Read what Nobel Prize Winner Joseph Stiglitz has to say about the TPP here: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/on-the-wrong-side-of-globalization/?_r=0