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Thom's blog
The TPP Will Sink the Middle Class
Six years into his presidency, President Obama is now taking heat from a surprising place: congressional Democrats, who are lining up against his plan to force the Trans-Pacific-Partnership, or TPP, through congress without any debate whatsoever.
If approved, the TPP, or as I like to call it, the Southern Hemisphere Asian Free Trade Agreement - SHAFTA - would create a whole new set of rules regulating the economies of twelve countries on four different continents bordering the Pacific Ocean.
Unfortunately, because the TPP is being negotiated almost entirely in secret, we don't know a lot about it. What we do know about it, though, comes almost entirely from leaks, and those leaks paint a pretty scary picture.
Thanks to groups like WikiLeaks, we now know that the TPP would give big pharmaceutical companies virtual monopoly patent power, let corporations sue countries in international courts over regulations that those corporations don't like, and gut environmental and financial rules. Given facts like this, you'd think that President Obama would want Congress to actually take the time and debate whether or not the TPP is a good idea for the American people. But that's apparently not the case.
To push the U.S. onto the TPP as soon as possible, he's asked Congress to give him "fast-tracking" powers that would prevent lawmakers from making any amendments to the TPP. Instead, the treaty would be sent right to the floor where it would only have to pass a simple majority vote.
Sounds pretty, anti-democratic, right? Well it is, and that's why Congressional Democrats are now speaking out against President Obama's request for fast-tracking powers. But the fight against TPP is about more than just whether our elected representatives should get a say in the trade policy of our republic - it's about whether the middle-class will survive through the next generation.
As economist Adam Smith pointed out in his classic book The Wealth of Nations, manufacturing is what really creates the wealth of nations. That's because manufacturing creates things of real value like cars that can be sold to create wealth. This, in turn, helps create a middle-class made up of working people who make the things that fuel the economy.
-Thom
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Greek vote, ND oil spill, lethal injection and more! (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)
PLUS, SCOTUS reviewing lethal injection- Mike Farrell, Actor/Activist & Humanitarian / Death Penalty Focus 
Daily Take: TPP...cement shoes & into the river for the middle class
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Monday's Daily Stack 
Hour Two: The media's dangerous anti-Russian jingoistic game...- Professor Stephen Cohen, The Nation
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Thom
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Is the Greek-Syriza election the 1st step towards a Eurozone ouster
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Watch & Listen to Thom
Conversations w/Great Minds P2- Norman Lear - Honoring Businesses That Do Good
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Rumble - How Can Glenn Beck Teach the Pope About Capitalism?
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News Is Not Terrorism
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Full Show 1/23/2015: Conversations with Norman Lear
In tonight's Big Picture Rumble, Thom talks with Jean Card, contributor at U.S. News & World Report, Progressive strategist Christy Setzer, and attorney Shelby Emmett of Project 21 about Republican's dual attack on abortion and social security, Glenn Beck preaching to the Pope, Saudi King Abdullah's death and what it means for the U.S.-Saudi relationship and Kansas Gov. Brownback cutting school budgets.
In part two of Thom's Conversation's with Great Minds with legendary film and television producer Norman Lear, Thom asks Mr. Lear about religion and spirituality, the business trust enterprise, and some of his fondest memories and experiences from an exceptional career and life.
How Greece Traded Sovereignty Away: A Cautionary Tale
Caller: Andrew Jackson Paid Off Public Debt. Guess What Happened Next!
Is the Syriza Victory A Good Thing For Greece? (w/ Rick Moran)
The Media's Dangerous anti-Russian Jingoistic Game (w/ Prof. Stephen Cohen)
Why Was A Yale Student Stopped At Gunpoint by Campus Police?
Thom Hartmann on Economic & Labor News - January 26, 2015
TalkingStickTV - Thom Hartmann - The Crash of 2016
Someone Needs To Make A "Das Kapital" Comic Book!
Mike Huckabee's "Ridiculous" Oxymoron
Have You Read The "ClimateGate" Emails?
Caller: Sam Johnson's Bill to Cut Social Security is Just Immoral
Netanyahu Snubbed the White House!
A Recipe For Democracy (And Why You Can't Start From Scratch) |
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