Memories of the 28th Century

This afternoon I started looking at information about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). I had expected that it was just another treaty to give advantages to some countries over others in trade with the U.S.A., but it turns out that it is much more complicated, and it appears to be designed to give advantages to corporations and individuals, rather than to countries. I find it strange that it also seeks to change U.S. statute laws, such as copyright law through treaty, rather than the old-fashioned way of actual legislation.

When I started looking, I was hoping that it was some sort of free trade agreement, but it isn’t. It is more of a tied up trade agreement, and it appears to be trying to create the trade cartel of the world, except for the EU and Russia, but that would only happen sometime later, after China and India sign on.

It appears that one of the goals of the agreement is to get rid of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that took years to get through Congress. The leaked section (link below) suggests that the TPP will make the periods of copyrights even longer; although most of the world agreed on general standards in 1994. The eff.org article and the leaked chapter are worthwhile.

The Washington Post article is interesting and informative, but there still are many questions in my mind. I can see now why Obama was looking for “fast track” approval on this. As a whole, the agreement may be good, but there are some parts of it that would not survive the U.S. Senate. The intellectual property changes would not be acceptable, and I think that both parties would vote against that. There are provisions that would further open the markets of Japan to U.S. agricultural products, and that would be a slight gain for the U.S.

Without seeing the details of each of the 29 chapters of the agreements it would be impossible to give an overall opinion of the agreement, but I don’t think it is necessary. Although the Washington Post article explains problems with the present General Agreement; I don’t think that this agreement would serve anyone well, except for a few corporations that might have more access to some markets.

Until today I didn’t think much of Elizabeth Warren, but her piece in the Washington Post on ISDS gives me good reasons to think that she isn’t bad, but that TPP is bad. Read the link Warren on ISDS and see what you think. And her criticisms of Obama in regard to this agreement appear to be on target, see links below (I know one is a blog, but it looks like a compilation of facts.).

I hope that readers who live in countries that involved in negotiations about the TPP will contact their representatives and tell them to walk away from this mess. For the U.S. as a whole this is a loser, but it might be more advantageous for other countries. It certainly is advantageous for large agricultural companies and manufacturers that export. If some parts of this were cut out and passed separately, then I probably would support them, but the intellectual property section alone is enough to put me against the whole thing.


http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpo...ts-its-a-beast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership
https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp
Leaked partial text from 2014
https://www.eff.org/document/leaked-...apter-may-2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...c-partnership/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...c-partnership/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...down-with-tpp/
Warren on ISDS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...9a9_story.html