Secrecy around TPP trade deal fuels suspicions and worries

TPP = US neocolonialism. Or wait, that is too polite. TPP = US Neo-Imperialism. That is why the contents are secret. The US 1% wants to own the rest of the world'd economy.

Let's see... absolutely nothing for people, absolutely everything for corporations. Typical.

I've been saying this is a bad thing all along for everyone except corporate executives. The rest of us will pay for it. The people need to pressure Japan hard not to agree to the TPP.

Pericle's democracy was real democracy. The US democracy is a farse.

TPP is a global corporate power grab. It's like NAFTA on steroids. It was written by and for multinational corporations and lobbyists. Don't sit back and let it happen.

The US democracy is a farse*

farce

All of the above ^^^^^^^. Totalitarian Power Play

T. P. P.

It worries me that this TPP thing can even get to the stage of discussion and negotiation. Each of the member countries are - on paper, at least - democracies. But as Frederic Bastiat brilliantly points out above, TPP is a Total Power Play on the part of the ultra rich at the expense of the rest of us.

Of course, the Japanese retail line, especially for products like rice, desperately needs reorganisation. It's one of the things Abe could be doing if he was awake. But it can't be done overnight. With cheap Australian or American rice on the shelves, no Japanese housewife is going to buy Japanese rice. So rice farmers go out of business in droves. With no jobs and no prospect of work, they are going to move to the cities. And then what is going to happen to the wonderful public safety that Japan has enjoyed. There will be muggings, gangs, the Yakuza will have a field day.

And if the muggers and gangs don't kill us, the chemical filth put out by Dow Chemicals and Monsanto in the name of "produce" will.

We the people have no say, so you are stuck with it.

They also show efforts to make it harder for poorer countries to produce generic versions of other drugs, to extend patent protections to new versions of existing drugs and to force governments—particularly New Zealand—to reveal their internal pricing data on pharmaceuticals.

Imagine how many people this could "rub-out"(1) because a poor country can't or won't pay the masters for their drugs. Black Market generic operations will pop-up, and the "War on Drugs" will take on a whole new meaning.

And BTW, has anyone heard any concern from the UN about this? I haven't. Are they being strong-armed to keep quite I wonder?

1 reference from the movie "Little Big Man

Jack Crabb: Do you hate them? Do you hate the White man now?

Old Lodge Skins: Do you see this fine thing? Do you admire the humanity of it? Because the human beings, my son, they believe everything is alive. Not only man and animals. But also water, earth, stone. And also the things from them... like that hair. The man from whom this hair came, he's bald on the other side, because I now own his scalp! That is the way things are. But the white man, they believe EVERYTHING is dead. Stone, earth, animals. And people! Even their own people! If things keep trying to live, white man will rub them out. That is the difference.

Just look at how Capitalism has destroyed the economic and political landscape in the U.S. That is exactly the legacy they want to extend into other countries. This plan will not benefit anyone, not even U.S. workers....

No angry comments please-remember, the country that has the most drones always wins......

Yup this trade deal is nothing but a farce europe is already in the same boat as Japan with their version TTIP nobody wants it except the 1% of America they are not contend with just control over the US but want the rest of the world as well.

The problem is not with one particular country's political leadership who are somewhat obviously influenced by the financial powers of the world, but the entire population in each country "allowing" that to happen.

One forgets that laws are created and enforced by governments "supposedly" on behalf and for the benefit of the people, but "how" (the process) they are created and enforced, depends on the people. When people are not allowed to participate in the process and/or do not participate, then there is a problem, especially with whom it shall benefit.

Today, the participation depends a lot on the strength and the honesty of the media.

I sincerely question the integrity of the media. Whom do they serve?

Does the media serve the public as they say?

Or does the media serve the almighty "money" and the stockholders?

However that money in essence actually comes from the public, does it not?

This is part of the "responsibility" of the media and not the freedom of the press.

If the public does not get "involved", everything can be in secret.

Sadly today, only the media can "motivate" the public to get involved.

Treating the TPP like some kind of national security secret is insulting and absurd. The various corporations and their clones, lobbyists and sycophants having full access to the negotiations as the "stakeholders." What does that make for the entire population of their countries? The elected representatives have only limited access to the negotiations and are prohibited from disclosing what they're shown. The negotiations are being kept secret because if people learned what's in it the TPP would never pass. The substance of this corporate "free trade" treaty will continue the destruction and dismemberment of their country. Corporations will be empowered to abuse the court system and set up their own laws.

The TPP is supported by President Obama. Which of course means that he is a two faced charlitan who has sold out to big corporations.

"Just look at how Capitalism has destroyed the economic and political landscape in the U.S."

You've conflated Crony-Capitalism(Mercantilism) with actual Capitalism which would be free-market Anarcho-capitalism.

With cheap Australian or American rice on the shelves, no Japanese housewife is going to buy Japanese rice.

How little you know about Japan....

Pacts which involve several countries should be eclectic Otherwise, what's the point of making deals?...not to fall behind and not to be excluded? That's ridiculous. TPP so far sounds one-sided.

What harm could possibly come from an document that democratically elected governments want to keep secret from the people who elected them? (...and yes, that was meant to be read sarcastically)

For all I've read about the TPP I've yet to see anything that actually benefits anyone other than corporations. That's pretty scary given a lot of the finer details have remained secret.

Not anything new here though, still higher-ups trying to screw over everyone underneath, just trying to put up even bigger walls to do it.

It sucks to be living in one of those countries. Oh wait, I live in one of them.....

As bad as the TPP seems to be, just remember, it's only 12 countries so far. And if the rest of the world sees the effects of the TPP once it's established, then they can decide whether if it's for better or worse. We all know for a fact that American corporations will be the biggest benefactors here, and then Japanese ones. So given that fact, "other" corporations who having backing of "other" governments would naturally want to steer away from the TPP. In fact, they'd see it as an opportunity since they are not bounded by any of these secret laws of the TPP (ie, if you can't produce cheap generic pharmaceuticals within the members of the TPP, then produce it elsewhere.........smuggling and copyright infringements included...)

TPP must be defeated. You must not allow corporations to become more powerful than the government. Shame on President Obama.

Is it just me, or is Obama really a Republican (was he a Manchurian candidate?). US politics is hard to understand.

The new world order is in full progress...

Consumers will be stuffed by the TPP. In Japan imported food tarriffs will hardly change and there will be strict limits on the quantities that can be imported. That's not free trade in any sense.

Meanwhile, US rules on intellectual property will be shoved down our throats and the internet will be policed as it is in China to protect US, tax-dodging media corporations. I expect there will also be pressure to increase patent protection to 50 years or 100 years, just like they did with copyright. The result: higher prices for consumers.

This treaty is not good business by any business standard.

TPP is more a directive than an agreement as the beneficiaries of this appear to be corporations through exploitation of labor in the far east and unemployment of labor here. While NAFTA has been a disaster for the workers in the US and provided little advancement for those south of our border it has certainly gilded the businesses that have taken advantage of wholesale offshoring.

The shock many of us feel here in the US is the apparent betrayal of two purportedly liberal Presidents, Mr. Clinton and Mr. Obama, both of whom have in my opinion betrayed not just the working class, but all of us who remain outside the so called 1%. What these men and those who support their policies of betrayal fail to realize is that they, like their apparent role model Ronald Reagan, are cutting out the heart of our once truly great nation.

I don't think either of these men and their business follower/leaders are stupid, rather arrogantly selfish and too shallow to see let alone understand just how short sighted, pompous and in the long run monetarily unsound their decisions are.

Like most who are socially myopic, they will enjoy their wealth while more and more in our once abundant nation suffer, but there will come a time when their children and grand children know the effects of policies that are ill suited to even third world economies. Neither of them were raised with money and like most anyone who has scrambled to have power and wealth suddenly foisted on them they are at a loss when it comes to using either.

Time will prove that our President is not doing any of us a favor and in fact is, along with a blind Congress, courting real danger.

History does have a way of repeating itself and marble busts have a way of falling.

Are you aware that the yankee ,US, targets more territories than stated here?

Having no foe how to reign in this Frankenstein?