Fast Track Bill Would Legitimize White House Secrecy and Clear the Way for Anti-User Trade Deals

[Faryn Balyncd]

41. AFL-CIO: "TPP Job Claims Earn 4 Pinocchios!" :

TPP Job Claims Earn 4 Pinocchios!





U.S. workers should beware of promises that the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will create jobs. When evaluating the recent Obama administration claim that the TPP will create 650,000 jobs, the Washington Post’s Fact Checker gave it the lowest possible rating of Four Pinocchios—aka “Whopper.” Fact Checker editor Glenn Kessler wrote:

Be wary whenever a politician claims a policy will yield bountiful jobs. In this case, the correct number is zero, not 650,000, according to the very study used to calculate this number. Administration officials earn Four Pinocchios for their fishy math.

We agree. After asking the administration for more than four years for information on expected jobs gains from the TPP—by industry and geography—we have still not received any information. Given the job performance of prior so-called “free trade agreements” (FTAs) such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (nearly 700,000 jobs lost) and the U.S.-Korea FTA (60,000 jobs lost), we view any promises about trade and job creation with extreme skepticism. And so should we all.

Read the complete article here.


http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/TPP-Job-Claims-Earn-4-Pinocchios

Here's more from the AFL-CIO YouTube Channel:

And more:

AFL-CIO: Tell Congress Fast Track Is a Bad Deal


04/02/2015





When Congress returns from its Easter/Passover recess, it will continue its debate on Fast Track trade authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and try to rush it to a vote as soon as possible. That’s why your lawmakers need to hear from you that Fast Track is a mistake we can’t afford to make. . . . . . . Click here to contact your representatives now and tell them to stand up for workers and democracy by opposing Fast Track when it comes to a congressional vote.

Fast Track is an extreme deal written by the big banks and big corporations. Wall Street says that Fast Track and bad trade deals will create jobs and that we don’t want China to write the rules. But allowing closed-door negotiations of trade deals that affect real working people like you and me rigs the rules for global corporations and leaves us behind. It is a mistake that we can’t afford to make again. . . . . . . . . Fast Track and the bad trade deals that will follow won’t create American jobs. When trade deals are fast tracked, jobs go overseas, increased safety measures go out the window and workers’ wages go down. And that can’t happen--because America's workers support trade, too.

It’s time for Congress to put working families first. Working families deserve a trade policy that encourages an open-door, democratic process available to all, not just the 1%.

Also you can sign the AFL-CIO's Fast Track petition.