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Trans-Pacific Trade Deal is Bad for Working Americans

U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, Special to Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
Fast track or not, TPP is a bad deal for the country. You'll hear a lot in the coming days about free trade creating jobs. Never mind the rhetoric. The first question you should ask is, "Who's going to get rich?" The short answer is: not you. This "deal" is just the latest example of corporate interests stacking the deck against working families. It's happened before, and it's happening again under our noses.

NAFTA: 20 Years of Regret for Mexico

Mark Weisbrot Guardian
Since 2000, the Latin American region as a whole has increased its growth rate to about 1.9% annually per capita – not like the pre-1980 era, but a serious improvement over the prior two decades when it was just 0.3%. But Mexico hasn't joined in this long-awaited rebound: its growth has remained below 1%, less than half the regional average, since 2000. And not surprisingly, Mexico's national poverty rate was 52.3% in 2012, basically the same as it was in 1994 (52.4%).

WikiLeaks Publishes Secret Draft of Trans-Pacific Partnership

Alex Hern and Dominic Rushe The Guardian (UK)
Treaty negotiated in secret between 12 nations 'would trample over individual rights and free expression', says Julian Assange. WikiLeaks released the secret negotiated draft text for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP is the largest-ever economic treaty, encompassing nations representing more than 40 per cent of the world's GDP.

A New Kind of Trade Agreement?

Haiti Libre
The series of agreements between Haiti and Vietnam, are proof that the South-South cooperation can lead to the fruitful exchange of resources, technology and knowledge. This cooperation provides the framework for a new form of long-term cooperation, which will enable Haiti to address food security, one of its main challenges. The government of Haiti hopes that these agreements will enable Haiti to leapfrog development stages and create a resilient agricultural system.

Deficit Fixed. Now Fix The Job Gap, Wage Gap And Trade Gap

Dave Johnson Campaign for America's Future
The "deficit problem" is man-made. The deficit is now down 60 percent as a percent of gross domestic product. It is down more than the deficit hawks Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles asked for. This rapid reduction is seriously hurting the economy and jobs, but demands for cuts continue. It is time for Congress and the President to "pivot" to focusing on our real problems: the jobs gap, the wage gap and the trade gap.

The US Food Aid Industry: Food for Peace or Food for Profit?

Brock Hicks Food First
Food for Peace ends up looking a lot more like Food for Profit. The letter ends with one final truth, declaring that food aid programs are "some of our most effective, lowest-cost national security tools." By handicapping local food markets across the world, food aid keeps poor countries poor and compliant, and provides US-based companies with dependable markets for the dumping of surplus food commodities.

Trans-Atlantic Rifts

By Christoph Pauly and Christoph Schult Spiegel Online
Consumer watchdogs, Internet activists and European farmers are gearing up to fight the planned trade agreement between Europe and the United States. Many in Europe are worried that politicians will make backroom deals at the expense of consumers.

labor

Growth of Income Inequality Blocks Recovery

JACK RAMUS Talking Union
Growing income inequality—approaching now obscene levels—is not simply a ‘moral outrage’. It not only represents a gross violation of historically held American values or reasonable equality for all. It is a condition that has served, and continues to serve, as a major cause of the lack of sustained economic recovery in the US now for five years—as well as a major factor in explaining why the US continues today to drift toward another ‘double dip’ recession.
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