The much touted, at least by multinational corporations and some governments, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, has grave consequences for the so-called poor of the world, including those in the United States. This agreement, clouded in secrecy, has been characterized as something akin to “NAFTA on steroids!” But, what exactly does it mean for the poor and working class of the United States?
Recent statistics released by the Census Bureau of the Federal Government indicate that half of the United States population is now living at or below the poverty line. This is a very serious and startling statement. At no time in the history of the United States has this been true. Add to that the fact that the gap between the rich and poor is also the widest in U.S. history, and that makes this one of the most serious situations of poverty in the so-called “developed nations”.
Compounding this serious situation is growing homelessness. We have the highest rate of homelessness or people without homes since the Depression. Our rate of homelessness is the highest in the “developed” world and even higher than in some “developing” nations. In my state, Florida, we have the 2nd highest rate of homelessness in the U.S.. In the Tampa Bay area, where I live, we have 25,000 homeless individuals and families. This is the highest rate per capita in the country! Florida also ranks among the highest in real unemployment and foreclosures, as well as in low wages.
So what has all this got to do with the TPP? The so-called Trans-Pacific ‘Partnership’ is a trade agreement being brokered by twelve Asian and Pacific Nations. The intent is to remove all ‘trade barriers’ between nations so that multinational corporations can move goods, services, and ‘commodities’ between countries more easily. Major multinational corporations such as big drug companies, WalMart, Nike, Chevron, and others support the TPP because these ‘trade barriers’ prevent them from making the highest profit possible on their goods and services.
Trade barriers include environmental safeguards, fair labor practices, inexpensive and generic drugs, safety regulations, indigenous sovereignty, national borders, regulations on GMO’s, and input from the public. If the TPP were passed, it would deeply impact the poor of the United States and the world.
The TPP’s implications on the poor and working class of the United States are grave and serious. From information gathered thus far it is known that the TPP would drive down wages even further, would further eliminate safety regulations and would ship more jobs overseas, including those in the service industry which employs many working-class and poor people in electronically-driven and telephone-oriented work. The TPP would also make it difficult to get necessary medications at affordable prices. Particularly, it would diminish significantly the use of generic drugs, which are the most affordable to those with low incomes.
The TPP would make foreign investment in domestic real estate easier which would drive prices up, making affordable housing more difficult to find. In the end, the result of all of this would be a continued and potentially dramatic increase in poverty, unemployment, and homelessness due to decreasing wages, further joblessness, and increased health costs. This may not only be true domestically, but internationally as well. The TPP would accelerate the ‘race to the bottom!’
With these very serious issues in mind, we must resist passage of the TPP at all levels! We must be involved in campaigns of resistance! We must inform each other and the general public of the dangers of this agreement. And we must be willing to resist with our voice and actions, including disruption and direct action.
As a member of the Green Shadow Cabinet, I, as with the rest of the cabinet, am committed to a campaign of resistance. To allow the TPP to pass would strengthen the greed and avarice of multinational corporations and wealthy elites. It opens the doors to a TransAtlantic Trade agreement of the same nature.
We must and can resist this evil! We can and will resist this horrific trade agreement.
~ Rev. Bruce Wright serves as chair of the President's Commission on Ending Homelessness in the General Welfare Branch of the Green Shadow Cabinet. This statement is one of over a dozen issued in support of the Green Shadow Cabinet's June 17th call for action against the TPP.
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With TPP, Obama has moved from transparency to secrecy, from human rights to corporate rights
Suppose a Taiwanese company wanted to open a factory in California to make clothing. They propose importing workers who would accept a daily wage of $10, would not spend any money in the plant to meet U.S. occupational health and safety regulations, and would be rabid in opposing workers’ attempts to meet collectively to discuss their grievances or to bargain collectively with management.
Now suppose the same Taiwanese entrepreneur builds the plant in Vietnam, where he can hire workers for much less than $10 per day and easily implement the health, safety, and labor relations conditions mentioned above, while exporting the clothes to the U.S. market.
What is the difference between these two scenarios? The second case, in addition to being more likely, hides worker exploitation from American citizens and consumers. While we might react strongly to a factory fire or news about workers being beaten if it happened in our community, our reaction is not so strong when it happens half way round the world.
The economic effect is the same though: driving down labor standards and reducing purchasing power for the majority of people. And, of course, raising incomes for our Taiwanese entrepreneur and his investors.
The Obama administration wants to make it much easier for the Taiwanese entrepreneur to do this. Under the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), tariffs will be reduced between countries on the Pacific Rim, including Vietnam. Corporations will be given enhanced powers to sue governments if they believe those governments are interfering with the corporations’ profit making activities. These disputes will be decided in private tribunals outside the normal justice system of the countries involved.
That few people have heard of TPP is part of the strategy for getting it enacted. There has been almost no discussion of the proposal in Congress although negotiations have been underway since 2008. While hundreds of corporate lobbyists have easy access to the proposed trade agreement from the comfort of their home or office computers, our elected representatives in Congress can only see it if they physically go to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and examine the document on a “read and retain” basis – without expert staff, no notes, and no ability to make copies.
It is likely that the legislation will be submitted to Congress under “Fast Track” rules, which means it will have to be voted up or down without any possibility of amendments. There is no way that our elected representatives or even their staff experts will be able to comprehend a document that will be hundreds of pages long, without proper vetting beforehand.
Trade can be a good thing if it reduces costs, allows countries to specialize in what they do relatively well, and increases consumer choice. But TPP and other recent trade agreements are more about expanding the freedom of corporations than they are about trade, including the freedom to exploit labor under conditions that the vast majority of Americans find unacceptable.
The stealth with which TPP is being developed is a sure sign that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative knows that the American people would oppose the agreement if they knew about it. Given the decline in tariff barriers over the last generation, being sure that the gains from trade go to the people who need them most is more important than further tariff reduction. Even readers of the generally pro-corporate globalization magazine The Economist now agree that making trade fairer is more important than making it freer.
Fairness in trade agreements requires that all citizens have a chance to affect the agreement through open and public discussion. Given the dramatic increase in inequality since the 1980s it is sensible to believe that fairness in trade requires particular attention to the weakest and most vulnerable members of society. Fair trade would prioritize the ability of the 99% to make a living rather than that of the 1% to accumulate unlimited wealth.
In 2008 candidate Obama promised to use trade negotiations to create enforceable labor and environmental standards, to promote human rights, to alleviate poverty, and to combat climate change. President Obama’s Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seems more interested in expanding corporate property rights.
~ Richard McIntyre is U.S. Trade Representative in the Economy Branch of the Green Shadow Cabinet. This statement is one of over a dozen issued in support of the Green Shadow Cabinet's June 17th call for action against the TPP.
