Obama lambasted opponents of free-trade agenda, arguing opponents are ignorant of the benefits

[hughee99]

102. Yes, and while the president is right that "that horse is out of the barn" on low wage labor,

that's no reason to throw the barn doors wide open to let the rest of the horses out too.

What I saw in the article was a good bit of discussion about how Wall Street and Congress are going to lobby hard to the people who are supposed to represent the people to do something that their constituents don't want, and that the president is suggesting that the people (in general) simply don't understand why this is a good deal for them.

What I didn't see was any real effort to explain WHY this is a good deal for the American people OR a promise to let the American people see what the TPP actually is. "You don't understand it, but it's good for you, take my word for it" frankly isn't going to cut it anymore, especially when Wall Street and big corporations are pushing for it and we all know they don't have "the peoples" best interests at heart.

And as far as arguing about how "international trade" is good, that's just smoke and mirrors. Sure, international trade is good, but what is the price? What are we getting and what are we giving up? Without those answers (which are INTENTIONALLY being kept from us, which should raise a whole bunch of red flags), discussing the benefits of some generic "international trade" doesn't really mean a whole lot.