Looking Back -- Looking Ahead

I used to hate opening night of my classes in Organizational Management, when incoming students submitted their first papers, essays on the book, Who Moved My Cheese?*. I found the book childish, well below anything I would consider worthy of a masters level course. Yet, class after class proved the need for it. Sadly,many students entered class a level or two below it.

Every day for the last two decades I have encountered people who are living the elements in the book. Even Paul, a student whose life was good and his life forecast rosy. Paul's circumstances did not immediately model any of the scenarios in the book at first. He had a great job with a long career path before him, one with perks that included education benefits, healthcare, a 401k and a pension. Life was good -- until it wasn’t.

Paul accepted his lay-off in stride. After all, given the company’s plight at the time, the severance package was generous if not extravagant. Unemployment was available if no new job was forthcoming, and he could always enroll in training courses if he chose to. A side benefit of training courses was that they continued his unemployment benefits for a few months. Sadly, he needed all that, and more.

A year later, he found himself living within the books pages, experiencing the five  stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Depression, the fourth stage, intersperses the elements at random. Fear has fast become a friend, visiting unannounced at any moment.

For many, living Paul’s life would be an oasis, a welcome relief. To sleep in one’s own house, in one’s own bed is a vision they have long ago ceded, along with hope. But, for Paul himself, there is the constant, unrelenting and increasingly real fear that soon what little he has left will belong to someone else. It is an unsettling feeling.

In Tennessee, a few million working poor live with similar fears. They’re making the rent while foregoing meals. Medical care is out of reach. Even free clinics carry costs. The diagnosis is free, the meds are not.

Medical care for the working poor is coming soon, they hope, with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Guidelines for the program allow people to pay based on earnings. Resistance to the program is intense among the right wing Republican politicians who are so against it that they willingly forwent billions of free dollars from the federal government rather than accept it. They believe Ayn Rand’s fiction.  

This, it seems, is what Tennessee Republicans see as acceptable health care for their lesser constituents. These are not the homeless. They are the working poor. Some work multiple jobs yet still can’t afford insurance. Others have insurance with deductibles so large that it’s like having no insurance at all. Were it not for organizations like Remote Area Medical, thousands of Tennesseans would never receive needed medical, dental, and vision care. Yet Congressman Chuck Fleischmann and his fellow Republicans**, the very men and women who voted time after time to repeal or replace the ACA, enjoy the benefits of first-rate health care -- at government expense.

Looking Ahead
In just under sixty hours the New Year will unfold. Times Square, New York, will fill with over a million revelers. Smaller numbers will raise their glasses in Market Square, Knoxville, and in Chattanooga, Memphis and Nashville. Hope will spring eternal  -- for a while.

For 2014, my hope is that we can enliven the fortunes of the state by:

• Acting en masse to raise the minimum wage in large cities and counties, to provide for all Tennesseans and, in the process, put more money into the economy. Remember, 

Poor people spend 100% of everything they earn

Working people spend 98%

Rich people spend 30%

• Raising the minimum wage helps families and their children, and improves life outcomes for all           by stimulating local business activities.

•  Replacing Fleischmann and friends with true public servants

• Creating new companies that employ people who are currently out of work and young college graduates whose majors are least in demand

• Developing small, sustainable communities within the borders of Tennessee's major cities

These ideas are not pie-in-the-sky but they do call for active participation and cooperation by a number of individuals and investors committed to bringing them to fruition. They are ideas that have precedence  in any number of areas across the nation where they have taken root. For more on this, and to get involved, e-mail me at jmalgeri@gmail.com.


*Who Moved My Cheese?  Spencer Johnson, Kenneth Blanchard http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0399144463

** Chuck Fleischmann and the rest of Congress earn $174,000/year for just over 100 days.

*** Ayn Rand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand

Tony, Eddie and Harry

Funny, isn’t it, how someone’s thoughts can grab a person’s imagination, and stay with you forever? For the last few months I have been recalling the words of activist, author, TV host Tony Brown (Black Lies -- White Lies,  Tony Brown’s Journal respectively), Dr. Eddie Green, interim Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools (1996,) and Harry Belafonte (Singer, Actor, Activist).

I remember Brown’s analogy of Blacks as a harbinger for Whites, something that, until then, I had never considered. I paraphrase:

In the 1920s, Harlem, with its music and vibrant night life, was quite an attraction for rich Whites, who drank, danced and did hard drugs, confident in the confidentiality surrounding their activities. It was OK that drugs were there -- in the Black community.

Fast forward to the 1970s. The drugs are in Manhattan townhouses. Adults keep them fresh in their refrigerators. The more enlightened parents even share them with their kids. Drugs are available everywhere -- in schools, on street corners. They’re in my home town of Cheshire, Connecticut -- 99% white, 75% professionals -- in small farming communities throughout the wheat belt and in the bible belt, where it competes with white lightening and liquor stores.

In the 1960s, there was vocal outrage about the high incidence of out-of-wedlock births in the Black communities, especially among teenage girls. This was horrible, an indictment against the entire community. In the 1990s, out-of-wedlock births were commonplace in White communities, in Podunk, IA (my name, not his) and similar small town America.

We (Blacks) are a harbinger of the future, he pointed out. We’re a leading indicator of what’s coming, by about twenty years. He calls on Whites to pay attention.

I think about that a lot both because he was right and because his ‘truth’ holds to this day.

Remember the sad state of education in Black schools in almost all the decades of the 20th century. With or without integration -- in Knoxville, TN, in 2013, integration is virtually non-existent.

Remember the scourge of AIDS?

Remember poverty, homelessness, welfare… it all hit home there first, remains to this day and stays longer there than elsewhere. There’s a difference between situational poverty and generational poverty.

Today, when there is no more racism (hell-o?) or, more accurately, when class warfare prevails, where do those Whites find themselves? The pyramid has become a funnel, and anyone of any color is at risk to flow through the stem.

In 1996, Eddie Green was the guest speaker at the Troy, MI, Rotary Club. He began his opening remarks with this sentence: “On any given day in the City of Detroit, no education takes place.” He followed it with vivid descriptions any parent could understand.

“Children come to school hungry, their last meal was the day before in the cafeteria. Mondays are worse. Many children haven’t had a good meal since the previous Friday.

“On any given day in the City of Detroit, no education takes place. In winter, children arrive at school without jackets. It takes hours to get over the shivering. They are ill prepared to learn.

“On any given day in the City of Detroit, no education takes place, Squad cars converge at the corner adjacent to the school. A drug bust is going down. The school is in lockdown. The distraction is overwhelming.”

I remember his words well, and all the words that followed as he answered questions from the audience. I also remember what Tony Brown said, “We are a harbinger of the future. ” Their words resonate every year when the latest PISA scores are released and the US is something like 16th in reading, 19th in math, 25th in science. Does anyone remember when we were NUMBER ONE? Were we ever, really?

It is time to realize that the gap in wealth is crippling an entire nation and that the outcome was foretold by generations of acceptance of the wealth gap and the willing disenfranchisement of an entire segment of our population. He told us so.

Harry’s Song  -- Is It Different Now?

I was thrilled to enter the auditorium at the University of Tennessee Knoxville to spend An Evening with Harry Belafonte, as the event was billed. Like so many in the audience that night (older, white, financially comfortable), I remembered him most for his Calypso songs, (Day-O, Matilda, Island in the Sun). I knew nothing of his activism, his commitment to the civil rights movement because I had lived abroad as a service brat during some of those years. His record albums sold well at the Base Exchange in Sicily.

Imagine, a musical icon, still vibrant at eighty years, standing before an audience of old White folk and young African American college students at the campus. He started softly, reminding us of those days when we sang along with him to the sound of steel drums. He mentioned his daughter Sheri, an accomplished actress, with understandable pride. We settled in for a trip into the past.

Harry reflected on his days in the trenches with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Andy Young and so many others. He told about being ‘drafted’ by King because of his fame and popularity.

One particular remembrance pierced my brain and made an indelible impression. Harry, Andy Young and a number of their inner circle were meeting in a hotel room to talk strategy. Things were not going well. Opinions were many and agreement was hard to find. Tensions were heating up. Harry looked around the room for Martin, who was gazing out the window, away from the fray and lost in his own thoughts. Harry moved to his side and asked, “What are you thinking? Is something wrong?”

Martin looked at him, his features softened by the light through the window.

“I was just thinking,” he said quietly so as not to disturb the others. “Here we are, struggling to find a way to belong, a way to fight the injustice and create a life in this nation, and it occurs to me -- that we are fighting to integrate into a house afire.”

Imagine that. A nation in so much conflict with itself. conflict that goes well beyond race. There’s a war raging, in an obscure nation thousands of mile away, a country that most Americans couldn’t find on a map. There are draft resisters marching in the street, being beaten by cops, and their all Americans fighting Americans. Poverty and injustice were powerful issues even then.

Harry paused for a moment to let the image sink in. Then he said, in a low, almost comforting voice, “I asked him, ‘Martin, if the nation is a house afire, what should we do?’ And he answered, ’We must be the firemen.’”

Today, Americans are still in conflict with Americans. We are still a house afire. And, if we are to recover at all, some of us have to be the firemen. Someone has to enter the fray to protect those at risk. Someone has to assess the situations and make judgment calls. To do that, one must first have grounding in the basics of firefighting. In this environment, it means having a strong sense of values; a firm commitment to see the causes of the fires, understand what can be saved and what must be allowed to burn. It means having an idea of what can be ignored now so it can be resurrected later. And it means identifying the arsonists, calling them out and bringing them to account.

You may not have been around for the 1968 Olympics but Harry was. He spoke about them in his closing comments, as a message to the African American students.

In that year, the US was considered a shoo in for gold in the track and field relay race. Four women racers, all African American, had set records all over the world in the year leading up to the event. No other team was even close. Harry made a point to watch on television.

The gun sounds, they’re off. As expected the American takes the lead. As she approaches the second runner for the hand-off, a miscue takes place, a stumble, it’s not quite clear. Grabbing the baton but now behind, the second woman races to catch up. They’re still behind as the baton passes to the third member, then the fourth. The long and short of it, there is no gold medal this day. No gold, not even a bronze. All because the runner failed to pass the baton.

The room is quiet as Harry scans the audience, his eyes coming to rest on the students.

“ I have thought about that day many times since. I replay it in my mind from start to finish, and the outcome is always the same. But I see it in a different way today. I see it as a metaphor of our struggle. I see it as one of our failings as leaders in the fight for civil right, and human rights for all people.

“In all the time we spent marching, fighting for freedom and human rights, some of us going off to jail. In all the time we spent to earn the right for you to attend this university, to take degrees and earn the opportunities for jobs and brighter futures, in all this we forgot one thing. We forgot to pass the baton to you.

“So, when a Supreme Court steals the election and gives the presidency to the wrong man, where were you?

“When it is decided that corporations can replace democracy, where were you?”

As he spoke to his students, I could not help but internalize his questions and take them to heart. I raised two sons, and I thought I had done well. But these are heady times, where people cannot remain quiet. Yet they are, and so was I. I regret that.

I tell you this for two reasons.

First, to let you know that I am taking my place in line. I am stepping up to fix what’s wrong - to shine a light on the arsonists and demand an accounting.

Second, to make you aware in a formal way that I am passing the baton to you.

If you think that people working long hours, or limited hours, to support themselves and their families with the help of supplemental nutrition programs, is a disgrace upon the nation, take up a baton

If you think that children should not be left starving, with their only meal the one they get in the school cafeteria, take up a baton and speak out for them

If you think that the laws that say corporations are people are wrong, grab a microphone and speak out to change the system as only you can

If you believe that college students should not be saddled with debt in order to pay for their education, then organize, and march

The list could go on and on:

From wars that benefit the sword makers at the expense of the traumatized, the maimed and the dead -- and families on both sides of the unjustified conflicts, call your congressman and make sure the vets get paid, that their families get survivor benefits, that the VA get better at caring - and curing.

To global warming, fracking, unwarranted surveillance and more

My friends, it is time for you to join me to take up one or more challenges. What you attend to may not be what I attend to but there’s plenty of things that need fixing, so let’s get our teams together NOW, so 2014 lives large in our memories as the year it all began -- for us.

Thanks,

Joe Malgeri

PS: What do children eat during school breaks, like Christmas and Easter? I don't have an answer but I know it's an issue. David Morton wrote about it in a post at Chattanooga's www.nooga.com 

http://www.nooga.com/164789/the-holiday-gap-students-on-free-or-reduced-meal-plans/ 

USA United State of Amorality

What’s the difference between Ignorance and Apathy?

I don’t know and I don’t care.

As we enter 2014, our race to the bottom continues unabated, despite the best efforts of a large swath of caring, committed citizens to bring the nation back from the brink of collapse.The die was cast decades ago when the citizenry slowly and oftentimes unknowingly ceded their rights and abrogated their responsibilities on key issues -- on so many fronts.

Long before Ronald Reagan spoke of the City on the Hill, the seeds of our demise were sowed. Truth be known and made manifest, we were always mercenaries, even before our founding: ravaging the land and exploiting its resources; committing genocide on an unprecedented scale, first kidnapping, then enslaving people across the ocean; undermining governments when it suited our needs. Seldom, if ever, have we acknowledged the sins of our fathers. Rarely do we expose the sins of our contemporaries.  Even when we do, no retribution is asked, or given. We don't even ask them just to do the right thing. Instead, we permit those who are destroying what’s left to amass even larger fortunes on the backs of the masses, the middle class (what's left), the unemployed, the underemployed, the impoverished.

Those guilty of destroying our country are easily identified by the one thing they have in common. They are the elite, and those who strive to become so. Included herein are most, but not all, of the 545.

The symptoms of our decay are obvious: greed, avarice, corruption, arrogance, hubris and more. At the core of it all is the ‘A’ in the newly understood acronym USA. We may still identify ourselves as citizens of the United States of America but we are in reality living in the United State of Amorality.

Before Rush Limbaugh is released to condemn this epistle and its author, before Fox News lets loose its lackeys, consider this:

First, amorality is defined as lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something. Because we as a people seem to have lost that sense of right or wrong, we do not react to its (wrong) expression at the hands of those who have applied it for their benefit and to our detriment.

Amorality has played itself out across the globe, literally destroying lives while enriching the destroyers. In 2008, the world’s harvest of wheat was the greatest in history. This phenomenon might have been a boon most especially for the poorest throughout the land. Might have.  A few years earlier, Goldman Sachs, the personification of amorality enticed a two bit regulator to issue a letter permitting institutions to enter into trading commodities. Based on that single page, Goldman and other sociopaths speculated on wheat futures, driving the price of wheat to over six times its norm. Food riots broke out in over thirty countries for lack of food. The cause and effect are obvious and measurable. Yet, while their acts killed thousands of poor in obscure countries, Goldman Sachs revelled in its newfound riches. I repeat: amorality is defined as lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something.

Goldman Sachs admitted to selling investments it knew were bad to their best clients, then betting against them to make more. If that were not enough, they made commissions when their damaged clients told them to liquidate the investments. amorality is defined as lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something.

Amorality is playing out out in the egregious behavior of Healthcare providers, Insurers and Pharmaceuticals. It is playing out in efforts to destroy our nation’s water supplies through fracking for natural gas. It is playing out in the ongoing negotiations by major corporations to lock twelve sovereign nations, including ours, into agreements designed to undermine the sovereignty of all signatories. These agreements will:

• extend patent life of prescription drugs to fifty years, in effect eliminating over time all low cost generic drugs
• extend copyrights to 120 years
• control your access to the internet, have your internet activities monitored, permit you to be sued for copyright infringements for actions you currently take freely on social media, such as sharing pics and video you found online with your BFFs
• force each nation to rewrite its national, state and local laws to conform to the weakest requirements possible
• eliminate regulations on banks and financial institutions that are deemed onerous by banks and financial institutions (say this aloud; of the bankers, by the bankers, for the bankers. Then repeat out loud amorality is defined as lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something)

Do you not yet feel anger? Are you willing to continue along the path you’re walking? Are you not willing to awaken to the loss of your rights to a few?

Second, your responsibility to yourself and your family imposes on you the obligation to 

• get informed, understand all sides of issues
• make decisions that are best for you, your families and your community -- and, by extension, your state and your nation.

If, after you have the information, you still feel it is in your best interest to:

• work for low wages
• elect and re-elect corrupt politicians to represent your best interests (LOL)
• accept the elimination of social safety nets
• accept the elimination of Social Security and Medicare
• accept that water, air and soil quality will erode
• see healthcare for yourself and your family grow out of reach
• allow public services to be privatized, increasing their prices and reducing services

then at least you can say with a clear conscience, “I acknowledge that amorality is defined as lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something --  and I am willing to accept the outcomes of amoral behavior.

Whether you know it or not, you were warned by:

Futurist, Author George Orwell

President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.

Historian, Activist, Author, Howard Zinn

Author, Activist, Noam Chomsky

Senator Bernie Sanders

Investigative Reporter, Author Christopher  Hedges

Investigative Reporter, Author Naomi Klein

Author Kevin Phillips

Author, Activist John Perkins

Author, Activist Wendell Potter

Investigative Reporter, Author Matt Taibbi

Author, PBS host Bill Moyers

Center for Public Integrity

Wikileaks

Whistle Blowers:

Edward Snowden

Chelsea Manning

Thomas Drake

Daniel Ellsberg

Katherine Gun

Peter Kofod

Ray McGovern

Jessee Radack

Coleen Rowley

A gazillion others

And me

Whether you know it or not, fighting for you are

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Senator Bernie Sanders

the Congressional Progressive Caucus

All of the above, including the deceased. They, after all, spoke out and left records.

A gazillion others

And me

All we need now -- is you.

Feller on Jackson & Banks

Dear Governor Haslam

Dear Governor Haslam,

I’m sure you agree, the holiday season and the approaching new year is a good time for reflection about values, family, friends and future. As the leader of a state, there’s a lot to ponder.

This year, Christmas inTennessee is remarkably Dickensian. You are old enough to have been educated in a time when people knew who Charles Dickens was, and have no doubt read his books. It’s sad that, going into 2014, life in Tennessee is reminiscent of the environments and situations most commonly portrayed in Dickens' writings, such as poverty and social injustice.  

You are the leader of a state in which fully one out of four children live in poverty, and you seem to accept that. You are the leader of a state in which millions of working poor do not have checking accounts, so they cash their checks and take out payday loans from companies that charge usurious rates upwards of 400 per cent APR. Yet you permit that without comment. You are the leader of a state in which millions of working poor do not have health insurance for themselves and their children, yet you forego millions of dollars per day in free money from the federal government while states like Kentucky and Arkansas enjoy the benefits of that economic stimulus. Hospitals in communities across the state are either closing or making harsh cuts to services because the monies they were anticipating from Washington have not come, a direct result of your lack of leadership. Even Governor Perry of Texas, certainly no rocket scientist, is looking into how he can take advantage of the income. You are certainly a better leader than he, are you not? I certainly think so.

A friend talked to me about his former stock broker, whom he had to let go. He said this, and I paraphrase, “I listened to him because everything was going up, and he led me to believe, foolishly, that it was because of him. It turned out that when the market was collapsing, he wasn’t as smart as he thought.” 

It’s easy to lead a state when the economy’s good and there’s great things on the horizon. Hell, anyone can do that. True leadership proves itself when times are hard, as they are now. I believe, sir, that you are found wanting.

When so many children enter school hungry each day, they are not prepared to learn.

When, on cold winter days, children go to school without jackets, shivering as they enter the building, no learning takes place. Poor children start their education fully two years behind their better-off peers in language development. Most of them never catch up. Poor children miss more days of class, have more health related issues and are more prone to act out in class, disrupting education for teachers and classmates alike. Yet you said nothing when the members of the US House of Representatives slashed SNAP funding that children rely upon to each, about $1.80 per meal per day. When Tennessee children fail to graduate, fully a third of them join the ranks of the Tennessee prison system, at a cost of some $55,000/year. Yet you don’t speak from your bully pulpit to educate your legislators about the cost to the state of a poorly qualified workforce, which results from inattention to the needs of Tennessee’s children. 

As you ponder the future, Governor, consider enlisting an outreach to the teachers who are trying valiantly to serve their children and, by extension, the state. Reach out to the working poor by raising the minimum wage so they can better support their families,  so they can have the time to nurture their children’s growth, so they can afford to buy life’s necessities and health insurance. Ask for legislation that stops the usury in lending and check cashing that depletes the already limited funds of the poorest of our citizens. Take the steps necessary to elevate the state’s standing in the nation. 

Lastly, consider this about the economy from a non-economist. If a wealthy person gets a $10,000 tax break, that money goes into his already flush coffers. He may invest it for sure but he has no need to spend it. Give poor people $10,000 and watch it flood the local economy within minutes, as it buys food and clothing, pays outstanding bills, covers the cost of dentistry or covers numerous other expenses. 

Governor, consider leading for the benefit of all your constituents. Imagine the legacy of such actions and decide for yourself what you want your legacy to be.

Thank you for reading.

Happy Holidays to you and yours,

Joe Malgeri

Dandridge, TN

 December 23, 2014

FYI  --  Poor people spend 100% of dollar they take in

  American Workers spend 98%

Rich Americans spend 30%

 

While There's Time Let's Discuss the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)

THE TPP IS UPON US 

This material is time sensitive. Above all other issues we will discuss en route to Election Day 2014, this one has the potential to be fast-tracked, with little or no involvement of Congress, the body that is supposed to oversee such things. This august body has ceded its authority many (too many) times over the last 30-40 years. If we don’t act, they’ll do it again.

BE AWARE: This deal could be struck by the end of December 2013!

As surprised as I was to learn how few people among the millions of uninsured know that they qualify for the Affordable Care Act, what GOOD that legislation can do for them, even after two months of attacks by Republicans…..

…..I was NOT surprised to know how few Americans know about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and what HARM it can do us all.

This so-called agreement between the US and 11 Pacific Rim countries has been described by those who know as NAFTA/CAFTA on streroids, and the greatest single threat to personal liberties ever proposed.

There’s a reason why Americans don’t know about it. 

The negotiators don’t want you to know about it. They don’t even want Congress to know about it. If they did, and if you did, there’d be OUTRAGE in the streets and all over the media.

Members of Congress who have taken the time to inquire about TPP have been granted limited access to various chapters, almost on a need-to-know basis,  but not the entire text.

Thanks to wikileaks.org,
we have insights into this horrific agreement-in-the-making:
https://wikileaks.org/tpp/ Take careful note of this excerpt from the cover page:

"The TPP is the forerunner to the equally secret US-EU pact TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), for which President Obama initiated US-EU negotiations in January 2013. Together, the TPP and TTIP will cover more than 60 per cent of global GDP."  

Thanks to the watchdog Public Citizen, 

you can know what I know. And when you do, I defy you not to get angry. 

(http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=183),

Included here are the major points of the TPP and how this agreement, already a source of conflict between negotiating countries, can harm us, from the loss of jobs to the loss of internet freedoms and, most egregiously, to the loss of sovereignty.

Imagine an agreement that says, in effect, “anything we agree to that flies in the face of state and federal laws to the contrary, the nation must change its laws to conform. OR ELSE, your nation can be sued for any financial damages that might have occurred, because you prevented us from making monies.”

This agreement would permit foreign subsidiaries of US companies to sue the US government for damages and lost earnings. THINK ABOUT THAT! A subsidiary of General Motors, or Apple or Google could sue for damages because local communities refused to rewrite laws that protect our domestic environment. Imagine a Canadian company suing the US government for damages because we stopped the pipeline shipping tar sands across our nation. “Hey, that’s a foul!  If we had that pipeline going full bore, we might have made as much as a billion dollars profit. Pay us!

This is only ONE example of the insanity included in this horrific document. To see more, go here: http://www.citizen.org/documents/TPP-corporate-factsheets.pdf

This is just one summary but it will open your eyes to the threats. Here are the major points from the three pages.

1. Claim: The TPP will “expand trade between the United States and existing FTA partners.”4

Fact: Since the existing U.S. FTAs with six TPP nations already zero out tariffs for most U.S. exports, the United States is not even discussing tariff reduction with most FTA partners in the TPP negotiations. Indeed, the lack of market access negotiations with existing U.S. FTA partners is a matter of some controversy in the talks. How can something that is not even under negotiation in the TPP be promised as a result of the deal?

2. Claim: The TPP will “open new markets in countries that are not current FTA partners.”7

Fact: U.S. exports have lagged under FTAs. Consider the most recent FTA for which the same claim was made: during the first full year of the 2012 U.S.-Korea FTA, U.S. exports to Korea dropped 10 percent. Plus, U.S. export growth to non-FTA partners is actually 38 percent higher than to U.S. FTA partner countries. How can we do more of the same and expect different results?

3. Claim: The TPP will “encourage companies based in TPP countries to increase their business investment in the United States.”14

Fact: Study15 after study16 has shown no correlation between a nation’s ability to attract foreign investment and its willingness to be bound to the extreme investor privileges that a leaked text reveals to be proposed for the TPP. With no proven upside, why would the United States expose itself to the proven downside of the extreme TPP investment terms that would empower foreign corporations to bypass domestic courts, drag the U.S. government to extrajudicial tribunals, and demand taxpayer compensation for policies that they claim undermine “expected future profits?”

http://news.rapgenius.com/Transpacific-partnership-tpp-negotiating-parties-tpp-ip-chapter-leaked-draft-section-i-internet-service-providers-appx-lyrics

This link shares the sections of the Trans Pacific Partnership that have been leaked so far. Note that none deal with economic trade issues like tariffs. They concern process issues that they are trying to use to codify agreements that, in effect take away nations’ sovereignties.

TPP IP

Section A: General Provisions  Intellectual Property Rights

B: Cooperation  in the implementation of International Agreements

C: Trademarks

D: Recognition of Geographical Indications

E & F: Patents, undisclosed Data, traditional Knowledge, Industrial Design

G: Copyrights & Related Rights

H: Enforcement

I: Internet Service Providers (& Appx)

Once corporations have successfully subordinated sovereignty to international contracts, our own legislators will lose all rights to control local, state and national decision making. Make a law to ban fracking in VT? Sorry, it’s against the TPP. Want to restrict dumping of toxic and hazardous waste in your back yard? Ditto. In fact, we have to rewrite existing local, state and national laws to conform with the TPP.

Interestingly, it’s not all about altering US laws. Part of the goal is to bring other nations into compliance with some of the horrible regulations we have here, and would like to be rid of. Prespcription drugs is a case in point. Many nations, like Canada and India and Mexico have much lower prices on prescription drugs. And, their approach to patents is much different (not favorable to the pharma giants). So, let’s sign agreements forcing them to adjust their systems to be more like ours, to the detriment of their citizens.

Corporations are attempting to rewrite the laws of the planet to suit themselves, and it will cost us all over time.

Write, call, email your representatives. Tell them to get educated on the risks of non-transparent negotiations. DO NOT let them cop a plea that it’s out of their hands, that no one tells them anything. They work for US, you and I. And, if they’re NOT, then November is the month we change them out.

Go online to the following sites: Sign up to stay abreast of the TPP and the other issues their staffs are covering.

public citizen.org

wikileaks.org

http://www.publicintegrity.org  

(Wendell Potter covers Obamacare and healthcare in general. His book, Deadly  

Spin is well worth the read.)

http://www.opensecrets.org 

Coming next: While There's Time  Let's Discuss Poverty

Anon, 

Joe