So here are some of the things, I think, our global Over Class would
like to achieve and how they intend to achieve them.
1) The Over Class must retain and consolidate their control over the
global system of debt.
2) The power to regulate must be taken from nations and effectively
controlled by corporations.
3) Professionalize governance. Democracy can be and must be neutered,
and an effective way of doing this is to insist that amateur, elected officials
MUST take the advice of professional (read corporate) advisors. Expand current
law to enforce this.
4) The financial system badly needs un-encumbered ‘assets’ to feed the
debt issuing system. A new way must be found to pry sovereign assets from
public ownership. Such a new way is suggested.
5) In order to facilitate the political changes necessary, the public
mind-set must be changed. National Treasures such as the NHS in Britain must be
re-branded as evil State Monopolies.
6) Effective ways must be found to convince people that democratic rule
is no longer sufficient to protect them.
7) An alternative to Democracy must be introduced and
praised. That alternative must be the Rule of International Law as written
and controlled by the lawyers of the 1%. People must be told that this is all
that stands between them and an increasingly hostile and anarchic world. But
that it can only keep them safe if it has absolute authority over
democracy. People must voluntarily bow to it out of fear and its decisions
must be as absolute and unquestionable.
– From David Malone’s excellent
article published last year: The
Next Crisis – Part two – A manifesto for the supremacy of the 1%
Obama is obsessively pushing for
fast track authority on a secret trade deal written by corporate lobbyists
known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. I focused on this issue last
week in the post, As the Senate Prepares to Vote on “Fast Track,”
Here’s a Quick Primer on the Dangers of the TPP. Here’s an excerpt:
Trying to learn about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is like
trying to walk through a minefield. The only information we really have is
courtesy of leaks, and those snippets are definitely not encouraging.
Pretty much every piece of major legislation passed by Congress since
9/11 is either a taxpayer giveaway to mega corporations, or a major expansion
of government power. The worst pieces of legislation are always marketed
with positive sounding terms and sound-bites. The latest swindle is no
exception. At its core, the TPP appears to be nothing more than a ceding of
national sovereignty to multi-national corporations. Then again, us skeptics
could be wrong about that, but chances are we’re not. We just don’t know
because the text is “classified.”
The Obama administration’s primary
tactic in defending this monstrosity has been to accuse critics of “not knowing
what they are talking about.” Fortunately, Michael Wessel, a trade expert
and “cleared advisor” on the TPP, is blowing the whistle. Here are some
excerpts from his very important article published by Politico, I’ve
Read Obama’s Secret Trade Deal. Elizabeth Warren Is Right to Be Concerned:
“You need
to tell me what’s wrong with this trade agreement, not one that was passed 25
years ago,” a frustrated President Barack Obama recently complained about
criticisms of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). He’s right. The public criticisms of the TPP have been vague. That’s by
design—anyone who has read the text of the agreement could be jailed for
disclosing its contents. I’ve actually read the TPP text provided to the
government’s own advisors, and I’ve given the president an earful about how
this trade deal will damage this nation. But I can’t share my criticisms with
you.
I can tell you that Elizabeth Warren is right about her criticism of
the trade deal. We should be very concerned about what’s hidden in this trade
deal—and particularly how the Obama administration is keeping information secret
even from those of us who are supposed to provide advice.
So-called
“cleared advisors” like me are prohibited from sharing publicly the criticisms
we’ve lodged about specific proposals and approaches. The government has created a perfect Catch 22: The law prohibits us from
talking about the specifics of what we’ve seen, allowing the president to
criticize us for not being specific. Instead of simply admitting that he
disagrees with me—and with many other cleared advisors—about the merits of the
TPP, the president instead pretends that our specific, pointed criticisms don’t
exist.
I’ve been deeply involved in trade policy for almost four decades. For 21 years, I worked for
former Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt and handled all trade policy issues
including “fast track,” the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World
Trade Organization’s Uruguay Round, which is the largest trade agreement in
history. I am also a consultant to various domestic producers and the United
Steelworkers union, for whom I serve as a cleared advisor on two trade advisory
committees. To top it off, I was a publicly acknowledged advisor to the Obama
campaign in 2008.
The text
of the TPP, like all trade deals, is a closely guarded secret. That fact makes
a genuine public debate impossible and should make robust debate behind closed
doors all the more essential. But the ability of TPP critics like me to point
out the deal’s many failings is limited by the government’s surprising and
unprecedented refusal to make revisions to the language in the TPP fully
available to cleared advisors.
Bill Clinton didn’t operate like this. During the debate on NAFTA, as a cleared advisor
for the Democratic leadership, I had a copy of the entire text in a safe next
to my desk and regularly was briefed on the specifics of the negotiations,
including counterproposals made by Mexico and Canada. During the TPP
negotiations, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has never shared
proposals being advanced by other TPP partners. Today’s consultations are, in
many ways, much more restrictive than those under past administrations.
Only
portions of the text have been provided, to be read under the watchful eye of a
USTR official. Access, up until recently, was provided on secure web sites. But
the government-run website does not contain the most-up-to-date information for
cleared advisors. To get that information, we have to travel to certain
government facilities and sign in to read the materials. Even then, the administration determines what
we can and cannot review and, often, they provide carefully edited summaries
rather than the actual underlying text, which is critical to really
understanding the consequences of the agreement.
This is not what freedom looks like.
Cleared
advisors were created by statute to advise our nation’s trade negotiators.
There is a hierarchal structure, starting with the USTR’s Advisory Committee on
Trade Policy & Negotiations at the top—a committee that includes people
like Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, Etsy CEO
Chad Dickerson and Jill Appell, co-owner of Appell’s Pork Farms. Then there are
specific Committees covering subjects like labor, the environment and
agriculture that make up the next tier. The last tier consists of the Industry
Trade Advisory Committees (ITACS), which focus on individual sectors such as
steel and aerospace. At last count,
there were more than 600 cleared advisors. The vast majority of them represent
business interests.
Congress
should refuse to pass fast track trade negotiating authority until the
partnership between the branches, and the trust of the American people is
restored. That will require a lot of fence mending and disclosure of exactly
what the TPP will do. That begins by sharing the final text of the TPP with
those of us who won’t simply rubber-stamp it.
Thanks for writing this Mr. Wessel, now let’s see if anyone cares.
For related articles, see:
In Liberty, Michael Krieger
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/05/19/trade-expert-and-tpp-whistleblower-we-should-be-very-concerned-about-whats-hidden-in-this-trade-deal/
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