The Triple Trade Treaty Threat: TPP, TTIP and TISA

Via Popular Resistance: This week, hidden amidst the news of the massacre in Charleston and the Supreme Court decisions on the health law, fair housing and marriage equality, the Senate passed Fast Track legislation and sent it to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

Now the path is clear for the president to push the triple-trade-treaty-threat through Congress. The first one, the TransPacific Partnership (TPP), is expected to come to a Congress this fall. It will be followed by the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade-in-Services Agreement (TiSA).

The choreographed corruption required to accomplish this feat, given the massive opposition to Fast Track, was obvious. Both the House and Senate had exactly the number of votes needed — and not one more — because they knew everyone who voted for the unpopular Fast Track risked their political career.

Members who supported Fast Track in the House received nearly $200 million from corporations who will profit from the treaties.

Revolution’s Matchstick Catches Fire describes the consequences if these treaties become law:

“This is the end of the United States. Our colonizing nation has been colonized by corporations and rich people – many of whom identify as transnational entities. Sovereignty has sold to the highest bidder. We, the people, are indentured to the power holding elite.”

The TPP - What You're Not Being Told explains the specific threats to sovereignty that we will face if the TPP passes this fall. We will not be able to pass laws that protect the health and safety of our communities but the profits of corporations will have legal protection. Necessities such as access to health care will be available only to the wealthy.

“King Obama,” his Royal Court, and the TPP: Ralph Nader urges people to “send the legislators who supported the fast track handcuffs a CITIZENS’ SUMMONS to appear at a town meeting where you, not they, present the agenda. If the lawmakers think 500 or more determined people will show up, it is very likely they will relent and meet with you.”

Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Unconstitutional? Plutocracy defined: Legal scholar Alan Morrison argues that there is legal precedent to find the extrajudicial trade tribunal system in the TPP and TTIP unconstitutional violating Article III of the Constitution. In fact, using Fast Track to pass these treaties also arguably violates Article I of the Constitution by transferring congressional responsibility for trade to the president. Fast Track is for trade agreements, and although they are often called trade agreements, the TPP, TTIP, and TiSA are much broader than trade and are really treaties. In a functioning democracy, they would undergo a full review and require a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate.

We live in a Plutocracy, rule of, by and for the rich, a government and judicial system that have little regard for the people. To get a sense of what is in store for us, just look at what is already happening.

Resistance Is Needed to End Corporate Toxic Zones: Erik Loomis describes toxic zones created in communities without the resources to fight back.

America’s Slave Empire: Chris Hedges writes about the forced labor in the prison industrial complex. Did you know that McDonald’s burgers and chicken tenders are made by prisoners? And perversely, while prisoners are not paid for their work, they are charged high fees for basic necessities. This is what an extractive economy looks like.

Economy in Crisis: The South Korea- U.S. “Free Trade” Agreement, KORUS, limits our ability to regulate our own banks. Despite this, an even more damaging set of agreements are waiting on the sidelines: TPP, TTIP and TISA – the unholy trinity of “free trade”.

It will take a coordinated mass resistance movement to stop the triple-trade-treaty-threat. Stopping these treaties will strike a blow at growing corporate power. The TPP is likely to come to Congress in the midst of the re-election season for Congress and heading into the first votes in the presidential primaries. The "free traitors" have sought to keep the TPP secret and out of the media, but with elections happening this could become an impossible task.

The Democrats and Republicans in Congress (House and Senate) were evenly divided on TPP and Fast Track — so why has the media been saying that, on this issue, there was a huge divide among the Democrats? Basically, most Democrats (80%) were AGAINST TPP and Fast Track and most Republicans (81%) were FOR it.

If possible, vote all these "free traitors" out of office — 28 Democrats in the House and 13 Democrats in the Senate (20% of all Democrats) and 79% of all Republicans in Congress just voted to give Obama the authority to negotiate trade deals to offshore your job to a low-wage country, raise the cost of prescription medicines and give foreign governments the ability to sue American taxpayers.