Will the TPP Kill the Post Office? [View all]

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Will the TPP Kill the Post Office?

Monday, 08 June 2015 00:00
By Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed


Corporations are notorious for sneaking things into laws and regulations before the public can find out and rally to stop it. And we know from the conservative Supreme Court arguments against the Affordable Care Act that even what amounts to a typo can be used to change the obvious meaning and intent of a law.

These are reasons we need to see the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership before Congress votes to preapprove it with fast track trade promotion authority (TPA). They are pushing what is literally a pig in a poke on us. We the People need to open that bag and have a good, long look inside before fast track buys the TPP pig in our name.

Negotiated in secret by corporate representatives, it is probable that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is loaded with things the big corporations have snuck in. We already know from leaks that TPP contains provisions allowing companies to sue our government in "corporate courts" if they feel a law or regulation is cutting into their profits. What else is in there?

.....(snip).....

State-Owned Enterprises

The U.S. Trade Representative website says TPP will have "groundbreaking new rules designed to ensure fair competition between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private companies."

We are also pursuing pioneering rules to ensure that private sector businesses and workers are able to compete on fair terms with SOEs, especially when such SOEs receive significant government backing to engage in commercial activity.

… Commitments ensuring SOEs act in accordance with commercial considerations and compete fairly, without undue advantages from the governments that own them, while allowing governments to provide support to SOEs that provide public services domestically; and Rules that will provide transparency with respect to the nature of government control over and support for SOEs.

Will TPP enable the privatizers to declare things like our beloved U.S. Postal Service, schools and roads to be "commercial activity" that competes with private companies? How about our parks, libraries, public pensions, and other public services? .........(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/31234-will-tpp-kill-the-post-office