Words, words, words. The central tool in the Trumpster's bag of
tricks. Words may be used to inform, or to instruct, or to create a
particular feeling. Or, words can be spread out as a covering to
confuse the real intent of the speaker.
Whatever Donald Trump thinks he believes, his words have given license
to Right Wing White Supremacists to creep out from under their slimy
rocks and begin their all too familiar hate mongering.
The recent desecration of over 500 graves in a Jewish cemetery, along
with the burning of Mosques, and the angry threats and insults shouted
at people of Color and those who dress "differently" warn of an era
of oppression. Donald Trump, rather than condemning such acts of
outrage and violence, declares "war" on the Press.
Can it be that average folks don't understand that Trump's entire
upbringing has been one of confrontation? Survival in the World in
which Donald Trump lives, survival depends upon aggression and the
ability to out maneuver your opponents. And every other competitor is
an opponent. The Ladder of Success is built upon the backs of those
you have bested.
I have sat in rooms filled with company presidents and corporate
CEO's, all smiling and slapping one another on the back, and wishing
one another success, until they are out of earshot of one another.
Their charm was a means of gathering inside information to be used
against the other members of their Executive Club. These Men never
respect the weak. They only respect the strongmen who reach the top,
by whatever means.
Cold? Calculating? Hey! These are men who believe that they are
looking out for their family, their children, their employees, as well
as their personal fortunes. Donald Trump is doing exactly what he
believes is good for Donald J. Trump, first. Then he is looking to
take care of his "family", those fellow Super Rich whom he sees as
"his people". Whining and grumbling about it will get us nowhere.
What we are witnessing is the Corporate Capitalist World uncovered.
We have been lulled into believing that our bloated, incompetent
Federal Government is the big problem. Trust me, our big threat is
this Corporate Tank of Sharks.
So, how do we fight back without becoming just like them? Well, in my
humble opinion, we do not do it with anger and violence. That simply
turns us into "them". Just what are the tools in our bag of tricks?
What strengths can we bring to meet and best theirs? Well, for one
thing, we have numbers. Our first challenge is to mend the fences
between our various factions, and unite on some basic issues. The
Trumpster and his Minion will lie over and over in order to keep us at
each others throats. We must find ways of countering these lies and
connecting our numbers. Remember, without us, the Ruling Class cannot
do anything. But without them, we might just go about building a new
People's world.
Carl Jarvis On 2/27/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
> Truthdig
>
> The Return of American Race Laws
>
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_return_of_american_race_laws_2017022
> 6/
>
>
>
> AddThis Sharing Buttons
> Share to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to More21
>
> Posted on Feb 26, 2017
>
>
> By Chris Hedges
>
>
>
>
> Mr. Fish / Truthdig
>
> The warmup act for a full-blown American fascism and orchestrated race war
> is taking place in immigrant and marginal communities across the United
> States: Racial profiling. Random police stops. Raids at homes and
> businesses. People of color pulled from vehicles at checkpoints. Seizures
> of
> individuals with no criminal records or who never committed a serious
> crime.
> Imprisonment without trial. Expedited deportation hearings and removal
> proceedings that violate human rights. The arrest of a beneficiary of the
> Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA
> (http://www.nclr.org/issues/Immigration/daca/) ) program, Daniel Ramirez
> Medina, 23, who along with the program's other 750,000 successful
> applicants
> had revealed all personal history to the government in applying for DACA
> status. Parents separated, perhaps forever, from their children. The hunted
> going underground. The end of the rule of law. The abandonment of the
> common
> good. The obliteration of a social state in which institutions and
> assistance programs-from public education to Social Security and
> welfare-make justice, equality and dignity possible.
>
> White Europeans who are undocumented are not being targeted. The executive
> orders of President Trump are directed against people of color. They begin
> from the premise that white Americans are the true victims of
> neoliberalism,
> deindustrialization and falling living standards. The Trump orders are
> written not to make America great again but to make America white. They are
> an updated version of the Nazis' Nuremberg race laws
> (https://www.google.com/search?q=nuremberg+race+laws&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 ) ,
> the Jim Crow laws
> (https://www.google.com/search?q=nuremberg+race+laws&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=jim
> +crow+laws&*) , the Chinese Exclusion Act
> (https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=47 ) and the
> Naturalization Act of 1870
> (http://middleeastandasianimmigrants.pbworks.com/w/page/21495984/Naturalizat
> ion%20Act%20of%201870) . They are intended to institutionalize an overt
> racial hierarchy in the United States, one already advanced by the
> miniature
> police states in which marginal communities of color find themselves. In
> these impoverished enclaves there is no right to trial or due process.
> Militarized police kill with impunity, and the courts lock people away
> often
> for life. Rights are treated as privileges that can instantly be revoked.
> The poor, especially poor people of color, have been exempted from moral
> consideration. They are viewed as impediments to social cohesion. And these
> impediments must be eliminated. This is the template for what will come.
> Jews-their community centers under threats of violence and their graveyards
> being desecrated-will be persecuted. American fascism will be cemented into
> place by uniformed and heavily armed paramilitary squads clutching the flag
> and the cross and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord's Prayer.
>
> "Little or no prospect of rescue from individual indolence or impotence can
> be expected to arrive from a political state that is not, and refuses to
> be,
> a social state," the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman warned in "Collateral
> Damage: Social Inequalities in a Global Age." "Without social rights for
> all, a large and in all probability growing number of people will find
> their
> political rights of little use and unworthy of their attention. If
> political
> rights are necessary to set social rights in place, social rights are
> indispensable to make political rights 'real' and keep them in operation.
> The two rights need each other for their survival; that survival can only
> be
> their joint achievement."
>
> Presidential chief strategist Stephen Bannon, in his public comments and
> his
> films
> (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/19/i-watched-all-of-steve-ban
> non-s-bad-movies.html ) such as "Generation Zero," has embraced a
> historical determinism worthy of Karl Marx. He posits that Western culture
> has been contaminated and is being destroyed by darker races and barbaric
> religions and belief systems. His conspiratorial view of history and
> society
> sees a global war between the white race and the lesser breeds of the earth
> as not only inevitable but one that will reinvigorate and purify America.
>
> Racists and conspiracy theorists such as Bannon, Michael Anton
> (https://theintercept.com/2017/02/16/trump-official-obsessed-over-nuclear-ap
> ocalypse-mens-style-fine-wines-in-40000-posts-on-fashion-site/ ) , Stephen
> Miller
> (http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/06/stephen-miller-donald-trump-
> 2016-policy-adviser-jeff-sessions-213992 ) and Sebastian Gorka
> (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/02/sebastian-gorka-has-links-to-a
> nti-semitic-groups.html ) constitute Trump's ideological brain trust.
> Gorka
> goes so far as to argue that the failure to understand the evil of radical
> Islam stems from a "systematic subversion of the national security
> establishment under the banner of inclusivity, cultural awareness and
> political correctness."
>
> In a 2014 speech, Bannon said, "I believe we've come partly off-track in
> the
> years since the fall of the Soviet Union and we're starting now in the 21st
> century, which I believe, strongly, is a crisis both of our church, a
> crisis
> of our faith, a crisis of the West, a crisis of capitalism." (He delivered
> the talk via Skype to a group of other right-wing Catholics gathered in the
> Vatican. For a transcript posted by BuzzFeed, click here
> (https://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder/this-is-how-steve-bannon-sees-the-enti
> re-world?utm_term=.bcz0w2Lql#.vt9AQ30eL ) .)
>
> "There is a major war brewing, a war that's already global," Bannon said.
> "It's going global in scale, and today's technology, today's media, today's
> access to weapons of mass destruction, it's going to lead to a global
> conflict that I believe has to be confronted today. Every day that we
> refuse
> to look at this as what it is, and the scale of it, and really the
> viciousness of it, will be a day where you will rue that we didn't act."
>
> Bannon, as Micah L. Sifry points out
> (https://www.thenation.com/article/steve-bannon-wants-to-start-world-war-iii
> /) in The Nation, is a proponent of the theory popularized by authors
> William Strauss and Neil Howe in their books "Generations: The History of
> America's Future, 1584 to 2069" (1991) and "The Fourth Turning: An American
> Prophecy-What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous
> With Destiny" (1997). This theory holds that roughly every 80 years,
> roughly
> an average human life span, the country goes through a cataclysmic crisis.
> This crisis unleashes genocide and other killing that last a decade or
> more.
> In its aftermath the social order is rejuvenated. Strauss and Howe
> highlight
> the American Revolution of 1775-83, the Civil War, the Great Depression and
> World War II as examples of how the cycle works.
>
> "Inside each 80-year saeculum, Howe and Strauss argue, there are four
> turnings, each a generation long, and each as inevitable as the coming of
> the seasons," Sifry writes. "In the first turning, for the generation that
> survives the prior catastrophe, the newly restored society reaches a
> collective apex of social order and economic power. Think of America in the
> post-war boom of 1945 to 1965. Then comes the awakening, as the first new
> generation of post-catastrophe children enter adulthood and, unlike their
> traumatized parents, let loose with their emotions and take risks that
> their
> forebears would never have imagined. Hello to the long 1960s. Then comes
> the
> unraveling, as the once robust order starts to fall apart, people question
> the eternal verities and institutions weaken. The fourth turning is kicked
> off and punctuated by ongoing crises, out of which a whole new order is
> born."
>
> Pseudo-intellectuals such as Strauss and Howe play the role that Paul de
> Lagarde, Julius Langbehn, Arthur Moeller van den Bruck and Alfred Rosenberg
> played for the Nazi Party. They give an intellectual veneer to racist
> conspiracy theories, a virulent nationalism, a hatred for culture and the
> lust for domination through violence.
>
> I share Bannon's distaste for globalization, free trade agreements, the
> failure to put Wall Street bankers in jail, the bank bailouts and crony
> capitalism and would even concede that Americans wallow in the moral swamp
> of a culture of narcissism. He is right when he attacks the two major
> political parties as the one "party of Davos
> (https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2017 )
> ." But his solution to the purported crisis-total war by the white race to
> regain its ascendancy-is insane, as are the causes he cites: a New Deal
> that
> turned citizens into whining dependents; the permissiveness of the 1960s;
> white guilt that made the country cater irresponsibly to African-Americans
> by giving them social service programs and undeserved mortgages that led to
> the 2008 financial meltdown; an intellectual and a liberal class composed
> essentially of traitors; and the "new barbarity" of "Jihadist Islamic
> fascism."
>
> Racism, misogyny, the inherent cruelty of capitalism and the crimes of
> empire, from Wounded Knee to Vietnam and Iraq, simply do not exist in
> Bannon's mystical nationalist worldview. He insists that the white male
> aristocratic elites who formed a republic that enslaved African-Americans,
> exterminated Native Americans and denied the vote to women and white men
> without property created "a church and a civilization that really is the
> flower of mankind." This is what he wants to recover.
>
> Fritz Stern, in his book "The Politics of Cultural Despair: A Study in the
> Rise of the Germanic Ideology," wrote of the early fascists in Germany,
> "The
> movement did embody a paradox: its followers sought to destroy the despised
> present in order to recapture an idealized past in an imaginary future.
> They
> were disinherited conservatives, who had nothing to conserve, because the
> spiritual values of the past had largely been buried and the material
> remnants of conservative power did not interest them. They sought a
> breakthrough to the past, and they longed for a new community in which old
> ideas and institutions would once again command universal allegiance."
>
> Bannon shares these fascist yearnings. He excoriates leftist and liberal
> elites for supposedly poisoning the minds of young people, a point he
> luridly makes in his film "Occupy Unmasked" (2012). A new generation, he
> says, has been brainwashed to see America as evil and the status quo as
> repressive. His mythical past will return through a crusade both domestic
> and international. All forms of coercion, from torture to murder, are
> justified. Any suffering along the way is the price that has to be paid for
> this white, Christian paradise.
>
> The central tenet of fascism is always that war cleanses society and that
> the "virtues" that war inculcates in its combatants and survivors provide a
> new moral vigor. Bannon knows no more about war's reality, which I endured
> for two decades covering conflicts in Central America, the Middle East,
> Africa and the Balkans, than he sees in Hollywood movies. But war for him,
> which will come in a confrontation with the Islamic world and perhaps
> China,
> cannot arrive too soon.
>
> This clash of civilizations will be prosecuted in the homeland, too. Within
> the United States it will spawn the darkness endemic to all wars-sadism,
> hypermasculinity, blind obedience to authority, a belief in the efficacy of
> unrestrained violence, racism, hate crimes and the use of the organs of
> internal security and wholesale surveillance to crush all dissent and
> eradicate groups seen as opponents of authority. Those who orchestrate such
> crusades ultimately sacrifice themselves and their nations on the altars of
> the idols they worship. The conflict desired by Bannon and those around him
> could mean the extinction of the human race.
>
> The paramilitary forces of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will
> hire 10,000 more agents, and the Border Patrol, which will hire 5,000 more
> agents, along with the Homeland Security Investigations unit of the
> Department of Homeland Security, have deputized local and state police to
> function as their auxiliaries. These paramilitary forces will not disband
> once they have finished terrorizing and deporting some of the 11 million
> undocumented immigrants in the U.S. They will turn on their next
> victims-Muslims, African-Americans, Asians and dissidents.
>
> The paramilitaries relish their power to kick down doors while wearing body
> armor and pointing weapons at terrified women and children. They are not
> warriors, as they imagine, but goons. They have few actual skills. And they
> intend to remain steadily employed by the state. The for-profit prisons,
> reopened for business by Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions
> III,
> a man named not for one Confederate traitor but two, intend to remain full.
> The state will make America and the global community inhospitable for
> people
> of color and all those who attempt to stand with them.
>
> Trump is stoking the darkest and most destructive strains of the American
> psyche. Congress, controlled by the Republicans, is unlikely to use
> impeachment powers to stop him. The courts are spineless subsidiaries of
> the
> corporate and security and surveillance state. The elites will not save us.
> If we fail to build mass protest movements, ones that cripple the ability
> to
> govern, we will be enslaved.
>
> Sebastian Haffner (1907-1999) in his book "Defying Hitler
> (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65458.Defying_Hitler) " describes being
> a law clerk at the Prussian Supreme Court. The courthouse was raided in
> March 1933 by Nazi thugs. They grabbed the Jewish judges and lawyers and
> hauled them outside; never would the jurists return to their posts. A
> Jewish
> attorney, a former army captain who had been wounded five times and lost an
> eye fighting in World War I, resisted. He was beaten. "It had probably been
> his misfortune that he still remembered the tone to use with mutineers,"
> Haffner wrote.
>
> "I put my head down over my work," Haffner went on. "I read a few sentences
> mechanically: 'The defendant's claim that . is untrue, but irrelevant. .'
> Just take no notice!"
>
> A brown shirt approached him and asked: "Are you Aryan
> (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aryan ) ?
>
> Haffner shot back, "Yes."
>
> "A moment too late I felt the shame, the defeat," he wrote. "I had said
> 'Yes! Well, in God's name, I was indeed an 'Aryan.' I had not lied, I had
> allowed something much worse to happen. What a humiliation, to have
> answered
> the unjustified question as to whether I was 'Aryan' so easily, even if the
> fact was of no importance to me! What a disgrace to buy, with a reply, the
> right to stay with my documents in peace! I had been caught unawares, even
> now. I had failed my very first test."
>
> Haffner left the Kammergericht, Prussia's highest state court, and stood
> outside.
>
> "There was nothing to show that, as an institution, it has just collapsed,"
> he wrote. "There was also nothing about my appearance to show that I had
> just suffered a terrible reverse, a defeat that would be almost impossible
> to make good. A well-dressed young man walked down Potsdamer Street. There
> was nothing untoward about the scene. Business as usual, but in the air the
> approaching thunder of events to come."
>
>
>
>
>
>
> John Oliver Looks Into the Worst and Best of Obamacare, Blasts GOP for
> Repeal Attempt (Video)
>
>
>
>
> Would Trump Let Oscar Winner Mahershala Ali Back Into the Country? (Video)
>
>
>
>
> The Art of the Trumpaclysm
>
>
>
>
> Trump Can Prove He's Not a Putin Puppet by Blowing Up the World
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
>
>
>
>
>
> C 2017 Truthdig,
>
>
>
>
Monday, February 27, 2017
Sunday, February 26, 2017
some rough statistics
Listening to Richard D. Wolff this morning, I was interested in the
statistics he rolled out regarding the distribution of wealth among
five of the top Capitalist Nations.
I did not jot down the exact numbers, but here are the rough statistics.
Finland shows that about 12% of the nation's wealth is owned by the top 1%.
Canada shows about 14%.
France, about 18%.
Germany, a whopping 24%.
But the winner, if winner is the correct word, is the good old USA,
coming in with a bit over 41% of its wealth owned by the top 1%.
While Donald Trump charges out against the evil government, promising
to drain that murky swamp, the 1% go merrily along, looking for new
ways of plundering and pillaging.
Like the great P. T. Barnum, the Trumpster has managed to drive home
the old saying, There's a sucker born every minute". So, if you were
among those who believed the Trumpster was going to make your life
better, welcome to the Club, Sucker.
As usual, those most impacted by the upward flow of our nation's
wealth, are the chronically poor, the elderly, and the disabled.
This, it turns out, is the real Swamp that the Trumpster plans to
drain. We who have the least to give will be first to be "drained".
For years the 1% concentrated on bringing the labor unions to their
knees. Now, with less than 8% of workers holding union membership,
the Ruling Class can turn their attention to dismantling those Federal
Departments that have channeled so much of our tax dollars back into
providing Social Services to the 99% of the People.
The Trumpster has gathered about himself the very people capable of
destroying the center of what is left of our democracy.
And we, the people most affected, simply sit by shaking our heads. We
have watched without lifting a hand, the ransom of our children's
education, and the mounting attack on our Veteran's Administration.
Now watch the next move, most likely to be the theft of our retirement
pensions and the shift of our social security to the control of the
Profiteers.
In short, welcome back to those "Great Days" when America was truly
White! When we had no Queers. When the churches took care of the
Poor and Elderly. When our children walked barefooted to the one room
school houses...after working in the mills and the fields. Where the
6 day 12 hour work week was the rule. Where women knew their place,
and obeyed their Menfolk, and the "Colored" stayed on their side of
town.
Yes, we are looking down the barrel of those Good Old Days!
Carl Jarvis
statistics he rolled out regarding the distribution of wealth among
five of the top Capitalist Nations.
I did not jot down the exact numbers, but here are the rough statistics.
Finland shows that about 12% of the nation's wealth is owned by the top 1%.
Canada shows about 14%.
France, about 18%.
Germany, a whopping 24%.
But the winner, if winner is the correct word, is the good old USA,
coming in with a bit over 41% of its wealth owned by the top 1%.
While Donald Trump charges out against the evil government, promising
to drain that murky swamp, the 1% go merrily along, looking for new
ways of plundering and pillaging.
Like the great P. T. Barnum, the Trumpster has managed to drive home
the old saying, There's a sucker born every minute". So, if you were
among those who believed the Trumpster was going to make your life
better, welcome to the Club, Sucker.
As usual, those most impacted by the upward flow of our nation's
wealth, are the chronically poor, the elderly, and the disabled.
This, it turns out, is the real Swamp that the Trumpster plans to
drain. We who have the least to give will be first to be "drained".
For years the 1% concentrated on bringing the labor unions to their
knees. Now, with less than 8% of workers holding union membership,
the Ruling Class can turn their attention to dismantling those Federal
Departments that have channeled so much of our tax dollars back into
providing Social Services to the 99% of the People.
The Trumpster has gathered about himself the very people capable of
destroying the center of what is left of our democracy.
And we, the people most affected, simply sit by shaking our heads. We
have watched without lifting a hand, the ransom of our children's
education, and the mounting attack on our Veteran's Administration.
Now watch the next move, most likely to be the theft of our retirement
pensions and the shift of our social security to the control of the
Profiteers.
In short, welcome back to those "Great Days" when America was truly
White! When we had no Queers. When the churches took care of the
Poor and Elderly. When our children walked barefooted to the one room
school houses...after working in the mills and the fields. Where the
6 day 12 hour work week was the rule. Where women knew their place,
and obeyed their Menfolk, and the "Colored" stayed on their side of
town.
Yes, we are looking down the barrel of those Good Old Days!
Carl Jarvis
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
meandering and mumbling in the morning
As a boy, I loved going to the movies and watching the Gunslingers in
the Wild West, going about providing Law and Order among the ruffians
who frequented the saloons and brothels of those exciting Frontier
Days.
The fact that those Gun Slinging Days never existed did not stop the
imagination of this small boy. As I walked alone to my Grade School,
fearful of the Barnes Brothers, and other Bully Boys lurking in wait
for the likes of me, I dreamed of swaggering into their midst with my
six shooter blazing and my iron fists slamming their ugly faces into
pulp.
Millions of little boys and girls grew up on a steady diet of this,
"Might Makes Right" crap. So, how's that working out, after years of
growing violence in our efforts to bring Law and Order and democracy
to the World? Can we take a step back for a moment and ask ourselves
why we have become so disorganized? Could our love of violence in our
entertainment have an impact on our entire approach to Life? Is road
rage, gang violence, school bullies, womanizers, and angry shoppers
shoving grocery carts up our backsides just a result of over
population? Or can it be a conditioning that has been building since
our brave forefathers scalped their first Indian? Have we simply
given over to our love of the Western Gunslinger Mentality?
To my way of thinking, the people we "vote" into office simply reflect
the sort of people who are in the majority...or can seize the
election. Rather than Gunslingers, these modern "Cowboys" are
Mudslingers. And they have honed their skill down to a point that
they can immobilize the entire nation. That is, they immobilize the
nation's People, while leaving the doors open to the Super Rich to
enter our Treasury without confrontation.
And all the while, we working folks are being fed a steady diet of
lies. What was it that old Adolph Hitler said? "If you tell a big
enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."
Dear friends, I believe that we are now in the Age of the Big Lies.
That mud being slung by our elected officials is actually Quick Sand,
and we're being sucked in.
Once we understand that violence and anger and hatred are not making
our lives safer or better, we can take steps to begin replacing Hatred
and Contempt with Love and Understanding. Of course this will be a
long, rough road to travel. All efforts will be made to keep us
stirred up and hating one another. As long as we turn upon our fellow
workers, we are easy to control.
If I could wave a magic wand, the first thing I would do would be to
remove the majority of ,our "elected" officials, hold open public
elections in which All citizens could participate, and send
representatives who embrace our new approach to making life livable
for all. The second wave of my wand would be to return to the working
people the dollars stolen from them by the Super Rich. No one has the
Right to steal from the sweat of another man's brow.
My third wave would establish the Rights of security, health care,
free education, and respect.
My fourth wave of my magic wand would be to send out armies of men and
women trained to teach the workers of the world how to take control
over their lives.
My final wave would dissolve those fake boundaries that artificially
divide us into nations, and create a new "nation" of all people
living in harmony with all Earth' life.
...Oh Oh. I just woke up! Drat! Once again I'm back in the New Fake
World According to Donald Trump.
Carl Jarvis
the Wild West, going about providing Law and Order among the ruffians
who frequented the saloons and brothels of those exciting Frontier
Days.
The fact that those Gun Slinging Days never existed did not stop the
imagination of this small boy. As I walked alone to my Grade School,
fearful of the Barnes Brothers, and other Bully Boys lurking in wait
for the likes of me, I dreamed of swaggering into their midst with my
six shooter blazing and my iron fists slamming their ugly faces into
pulp.
Millions of little boys and girls grew up on a steady diet of this,
"Might Makes Right" crap. So, how's that working out, after years of
growing violence in our efforts to bring Law and Order and democracy
to the World? Can we take a step back for a moment and ask ourselves
why we have become so disorganized? Could our love of violence in our
entertainment have an impact on our entire approach to Life? Is road
rage, gang violence, school bullies, womanizers, and angry shoppers
shoving grocery carts up our backsides just a result of over
population? Or can it be a conditioning that has been building since
our brave forefathers scalped their first Indian? Have we simply
given over to our love of the Western Gunslinger Mentality?
To my way of thinking, the people we "vote" into office simply reflect
the sort of people who are in the majority...or can seize the
election. Rather than Gunslingers, these modern "Cowboys" are
Mudslingers. And they have honed their skill down to a point that
they can immobilize the entire nation. That is, they immobilize the
nation's People, while leaving the doors open to the Super Rich to
enter our Treasury without confrontation.
And all the while, we working folks are being fed a steady diet of
lies. What was it that old Adolph Hitler said? "If you tell a big
enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."
Dear friends, I believe that we are now in the Age of the Big Lies.
That mud being slung by our elected officials is actually Quick Sand,
and we're being sucked in.
Once we understand that violence and anger and hatred are not making
our lives safer or better, we can take steps to begin replacing Hatred
and Contempt with Love and Understanding. Of course this will be a
long, rough road to travel. All efforts will be made to keep us
stirred up and hating one another. As long as we turn upon our fellow
workers, we are easy to control.
If I could wave a magic wand, the first thing I would do would be to
remove the majority of ,our "elected" officials, hold open public
elections in which All citizens could participate, and send
representatives who embrace our new approach to making life livable
for all. The second wave of my wand would be to return to the working
people the dollars stolen from them by the Super Rich. No one has the
Right to steal from the sweat of another man's brow.
My third wave would establish the Rights of security, health care,
free education, and respect.
My fourth wave of my magic wand would be to send out armies of men and
women trained to teach the workers of the world how to take control
over their lives.
My final wave would dissolve those fake boundaries that artificially
divide us into nations, and create a new "nation" of all people
living in harmony with all Earth' life.
...Oh Oh. I just woke up! Drat! Once again I'm back in the New Fake
World According to Donald Trump.
Carl Jarvis
Monday, February 13, 2017
Garrison Keillor: too narrowly focused
While I don't disagree with Garrison Keillor, I do worry some over our
continuing to focus most of our attention on Donald J. Trump.
Frankly, I would relegate him to a Comic Book Character, The
Trumpster, and turn Batman loose on him.
The real threat to that which we have called, "Our American Way of
Life", will be under attack by those cabinet appointees, once
confirmed and turned loose to "Make America Great" again. This, by
the way, is code for, "Make America White".
Donald J. Trump, always the Showman, will continue to distract us with
his twitters and his outrageous contempt for anyone who dares to think
differently than President Trump, distracting us all from the carnage
and plunder taking place in this once beautiful Land.
Carl Jarvis
*****
Manchester Union Leader, Sunday, 2017_02_12
By GARRISON KEILLOR
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a joint news conference with Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 10,
2017.
> (REUTERS/Jim Bourg) THE CONSTITUTION does not allow
13-year-olds to become President and now we can see why. The Boy President
proudly holding his latest executive order up for the cameras, to show that
he knows right-side-up from upside-down. Bringing his Supreme Court nominee
onstage ("So was that a surprise? Was it?") Hanging up on the prime
minister
of Australia. His homage to Frederick Douglass ("someone who's done an
amazing job") for Black History Month. Twittering about the "so-called
judge" who stopped the Muslim travel ban. Pictured in full smirk at the
National Prayer Breakfast, preening, bloviating ("In towns all across our
land, it's plain to see what we easily forget - so easily we forget this,
that the quality of our lives is not defined by our material success, but
by
> our spiritual success") on a scale of bloviation equal to Warren G. Harding
and the great gasbags of the 19th century. You think, let the man be
President but please don't put him in charge of the Weather Service or
Amtrak or the TSA. His homage to the Navy SEAL killed in the botched raid
in
Yemen showed off his style. He has only one, the Jerry Lewis Telethon
style:
"Very, very sad, but very, very beautiful. Very, very beautiful. His family
was there. Incredible family, loved him so much. So devastated - he was so
devastated. But the ceremony was amazing."
Bill Murray destroyed this style,
so did Ray of Bob & Ray, Ring Lardner, H.L. Mencken, Sinclair Lewis, Mark
Twain and every satirist who ever lived, and here it is, still walking
around, and it will be the voice of our government for years to come.
Senate
Republicans have been blessing his Cabinet appointees. They might have
balked at Ben Dover for secretary of defense or Hedda Hair for secretary of
state, but the nominees were fairly respectable, compared with the man who
nominated them. They showed dignity. They didn't sit before a Senate
committee and talk about their great TV ratings. They tried to address the
subject at hand. They didn't say, "What an honor. So many great senators
here this morning. So very very important to all of us. Beautiful people.
You do incredible things. So very special."
The National Prayer Breakfast is
one of those deadly official pieties, like sand burrs that you can't get
rid
of. Every elected official must now wear a flag pin; more and more public
meetings now begin with the Pledge of Allegiance, grown people whose
allegiance used to be assumed now required to stand and salute the flag,
like obedient grade-school pupils. Why not recite the multiplication tables
and the parts of speech? And then there is the official Prayer Breakfast,
which shows the reason for separation of Church and State: because
politicians corrupt the Church. Jesus was rough on those who pray for show,
but there was the Boy President complimenting the Senate chaplain for his
fine prayer, as if it were a performance. He went on to gas about his agent
and his TV show and to say that as long as we have God, we are never alone
and to say that he grew up in a "churched home" and that it is faith that
keeps us strong. He also announced that we are not only flesh and blood: We
each have a soul.
> I'd like to believe that he does have one and that we just
haven't seen it yet. I would've been moved if he had said a prayer at the
Prayer Breakfast. A classic Christian prayer, such as "Lord God, You know
that I am unworthy to be here as President. You know that I have lied and
worked hard to incite fear and intolerance and to capitalize on it
politically. I have seduced your believers and made myself their Great
White
Hope, even though I am not one of them and never was. You know that I am
not
capable of executing my duties as the American people deserve. Lord, I come
to You in my unworthiness and shame and I ask You to take this 'cup' from
me. I wish to go to Iowa and join the Trappist monastery there and take
vows
of silence and poverty and learn carpentry or some other useful trade and
draw nearer to You in poverty and prayer. This I pray in Your Name. Amen
and
Amen."
> Had he been in the Spirit, he would've said that. But there will be
more opportunities to come.
> Garrison Keillor is an author and radio
personality. .
continuing to focus most of our attention on Donald J. Trump.
Frankly, I would relegate him to a Comic Book Character, The
Trumpster, and turn Batman loose on him.
The real threat to that which we have called, "Our American Way of
Life", will be under attack by those cabinet appointees, once
confirmed and turned loose to "Make America Great" again. This, by
the way, is code for, "Make America White".
Donald J. Trump, always the Showman, will continue to distract us with
his twitters and his outrageous contempt for anyone who dares to think
differently than President Trump, distracting us all from the carnage
and plunder taking place in this once beautiful Land.
Carl Jarvis
*****
Manchester Union Leader, Sunday, 2017_02_12
By GARRISON KEILLOR
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a joint news conference with Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 10,
2017.
> (REUTERS/Jim Bourg) THE CONSTITUTION does not allow
13-year-olds to become President and now we can see why. The Boy President
proudly holding his latest executive order up for the cameras, to show that
he knows right-side-up from upside-down. Bringing his Supreme Court nominee
onstage ("So was that a surprise? Was it?") Hanging up on the prime
minister
of Australia. His homage to Frederick Douglass ("someone who's done an
amazing job") for Black History Month. Twittering about the "so-called
judge" who stopped the Muslim travel ban. Pictured in full smirk at the
National Prayer Breakfast, preening, bloviating ("In towns all across our
land, it's plain to see what we easily forget - so easily we forget this,
that the quality of our lives is not defined by our material success, but
by
> our spiritual success") on a scale of bloviation equal to Warren G. Harding
and the great gasbags of the 19th century. You think, let the man be
President but please don't put him in charge of the Weather Service or
Amtrak or the TSA. His homage to the Navy SEAL killed in the botched raid
in
Yemen showed off his style. He has only one, the Jerry Lewis Telethon
style:
"Very, very sad, but very, very beautiful. Very, very beautiful. His family
was there. Incredible family, loved him so much. So devastated - he was so
devastated. But the ceremony was amazing."
Bill Murray destroyed this style,
so did Ray of Bob & Ray, Ring Lardner, H.L. Mencken, Sinclair Lewis, Mark
Twain and every satirist who ever lived, and here it is, still walking
around, and it will be the voice of our government for years to come.
Senate
Republicans have been blessing his Cabinet appointees. They might have
balked at Ben Dover for secretary of defense or Hedda Hair for secretary of
state, but the nominees were fairly respectable, compared with the man who
nominated them. They showed dignity. They didn't sit before a Senate
committee and talk about their great TV ratings. They tried to address the
subject at hand. They didn't say, "What an honor. So many great senators
here this morning. So very very important to all of us. Beautiful people.
You do incredible things. So very special."
The National Prayer Breakfast is
one of those deadly official pieties, like sand burrs that you can't get
rid
of. Every elected official must now wear a flag pin; more and more public
meetings now begin with the Pledge of Allegiance, grown people whose
allegiance used to be assumed now required to stand and salute the flag,
like obedient grade-school pupils. Why not recite the multiplication tables
and the parts of speech? And then there is the official Prayer Breakfast,
which shows the reason for separation of Church and State: because
politicians corrupt the Church. Jesus was rough on those who pray for show,
but there was the Boy President complimenting the Senate chaplain for his
fine prayer, as if it were a performance. He went on to gas about his agent
and his TV show and to say that as long as we have God, we are never alone
and to say that he grew up in a "churched home" and that it is faith that
keeps us strong. He also announced that we are not only flesh and blood: We
each have a soul.
> I'd like to believe that he does have one and that we just
haven't seen it yet. I would've been moved if he had said a prayer at the
Prayer Breakfast. A classic Christian prayer, such as "Lord God, You know
that I am unworthy to be here as President. You know that I have lied and
worked hard to incite fear and intolerance and to capitalize on it
politically. I have seduced your believers and made myself their Great
White
Hope, even though I am not one of them and never was. You know that I am
not
capable of executing my duties as the American people deserve. Lord, I come
to You in my unworthiness and shame and I ask You to take this 'cup' from
me. I wish to go to Iowa and join the Trappist monastery there and take
vows
of silence and poverty and learn carpentry or some other useful trade and
draw nearer to You in poverty and prayer. This I pray in Your Name. Amen
and
Amen."
> Had he been in the Spirit, he would've said that. But there will be
more opportunities to come.
> Garrison Keillor is an author and radio
personality. .
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Re: [blind-democracy] Worse than the PTT
Peter Dolack hit the nail on the head when he wrote,
"...The intention of "free trade" agreements is to elevate
corporations to the level of governments. In reality, they raise
corporations above the level of governments because only "investors"
can sue; governments and people can't."
This has been my contention for some time. No longer will our
grandchildren sing, God Bless America..." Instead it will be, "God
Bless Standard Oil...", or some other corporate state to which we owe
allegiance.
Carl Jarvis
On 2/11/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> TPP Is Not Dead: It's Now Called Trade In Services Agreement
>
>
>
> By Peter Dolack,
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/tisa-worse-than-tpp/>
> www.systemicdisorder.wordpress.com
> February 10th, 2017
>
>
> <https://popularresistance.org/tpp-is-not-dead-its-now-called-trade-in-servi
> ces-agreement/>
>
> Above Photo: by Annette Dubois
>
> One can hear the cry ringing through the boardrooms of capital: "Free trade
> is dead! Long live free trade!"
>
> Think the ideas behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the so-called "free
> trade" regime are buried? Sadly, no. Definitely, no. Some of the countries
> involved in negotiating the TPP seeking to find ways to resurrect it in
> some
> new form - but that isn't the most distressing news. What's worse is the
> TPP
> remains alive in a new form with even worse rules. Meet the Trade In
> Services Agreement, even more secret than the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
> And
> more dangerous.
>
> The Trade In Services Agreement (TISA), currently being negotiated among 50
> countries, if passed would prohibit regulations on the financial industry,
> eliminate laws to safeguard online or digital privacy, render illegal any
> "buy local" rules at any level of government, effectively dismantle any
> public advantages to be derived from state-owned enterprises and eliminate
> net neutrality.
>
> TISA negotiations began in April 2013 and have gone through 21 rounds.
> Silence has been the rule for these talks, and we only know what's in it
> because of leaks, earlier ones published by WikiLeaks and now a new
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/?+-tisa-+> cache published January 29 by
> Bilaterals.org.
>
> Earlier draft versions of TISA's language would
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/no-regulation-trade-in-se
> rvices-agreement/> prohibit any restrictions on the size, expansion or
> entry
> of financial companies and a ban on new regulations, including a specific
> ban on any law that separates commercial and investment banking, such as
> the
> equivalent of the U.S. Glass-Steagall Act. It would also ban any
> restrictions on the transfer of any data collected, including across
> borders; place social security systems at risk of privatization or
> elimination; and put an
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/tisa-censorship-no-privac
> y/> end to Internet privacy and net neutrality. It hasn't gotten any more
> acceptable.
>
> TISA is the backup plan in case
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/why-tpp-text-is-secret/>
> the TPP and the
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/goodbye-democracy-transat
> lantic-partnership/> Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership don't
> come to fruition. Perhaps fearful that the recent spotlight put on "free
> trade" deals might derail TISA as it derailed TPP, the governmental trade
> offices negotiating it have not announced the next negotiating date. The
> closest toward any meaningful information found was the Australian
> government's
> <http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/trade-in-services-agreement/news/Pages/
> news.aspx> bland statement that the "Parties agreed to reconvene in 2017."
>
> The cover story for why TISA is being negotiated is that it would uphold
> the
> right to hire the accountant or engineer of your choice, but in reality is
> intended to enable the financial industry and Internet companies to run
> roughshod over countries around the world. And while "liberalization" of
> professional services is being promoted, the definition of "services" is
> being expanded in order to stretch the category to encompass manufacturing.
> Deborah James of the Center for Economy and Policy Research
> <https://popularresistance.org/there-is-still-one-big-corporate-trade-deal-t
> hat-must-be-stopped/> laid out the breathtaking scope of this proposal:
>
> "Corporations no longer consider setting up a plant and producing goods to
> be simply 'manufacturing goods.' This activity is now is broken down into
> research and development services, design services, legal services, real
> estate services, architecture services, engineering services, construction
> services, energy services, employment contracting services, consulting
> services, manufacturing services, adult education services, payroll
> services, maintenance services, refuse disposal services, warehousing
> services, data management services, telecommunications services,
> audiovisual
> services, banking services, accounting services, insurance services,
> transportation services, distribution services, marketing services, retail
> services, postal and expedited delivery services, and after-sales
> servicing,
> to name a few. Going further, a shoe or watch that measures steps or sleep
> could be a fitness monitoring service, not a good. A driverless car could
> be
> a transport service, not an automobile. Google and Facebook could be
> information services and communication services, respectively."
>
> Why is it you are kept in the dark?
>
> Before we get to the details of the text itself, let's take a quick look at
> how the world's governments, on behalf of multi-national capital, are
> letting their citizens know what they are up to. Or, to be more accurate,
> what they are not telling you. Many governments have not bothered to update
> their official pages extolling TISA in months.
>
> The European Union is negotiating TISA on behalf of its 28 member
> countries,
> along with, among others, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New
> Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Norway,
> Switzerland, Pakistan and Turkey.
>
> In the United States, the new Trump administration has yet to say a word
> about it. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative web site's
> <https://ustr.gov/TiSA> page on TISA still says "TiSA is part of the Obama
> Administration's ongoing effort to create economic opportunity for U.S.
> workers and businesses by expanding trade opportunities." Uh-huh. President
> Donald Trump is
> <http://www.leftvoice.org/Free-Trade-Agreements-and-the-Dynamics-of-Capitali
> sm> not against "free trade" deals; he simply claims he can do it better.
> The Trump administration has issued blustery calls for "fair deals" and
> braggadocio puffing up Donald Trump's supposed negotiating prowess. A
> typical <https://www.whitehouse.gov/trade-deals-working-all-americans>
> White House passage reads, "To carry out his strategy, the President is
> appointing the toughest and smartest to his trade team, ensuring that
> Americans have the best negotiators possible. For too long, trade deals
> have
> been negotiated by, and for, members of the Washington establishment."
>
> More typical of the TISA negotiators is
> <http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2016/november/tradoc_155095.pdf> the
> latest report from the European Commission, which summarized the latest
> round, held last November, this way: "Parties made good progress in working
> towards an agreed text and finding pathways towards solving the most
> controversial outstanding issues at both Chief Negotiators and Heads of
> Delegation levels." The Canadian government's
> <http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/topics-
> domaines/services/tisa-acs.aspx?lang=eng> last update is from last June and
> declares "Parties conducted a stocktaking session to assess the level of
> progress on all issues."
>
> Traveling across the Pacific brings no more useful information. Australia's
> government offers this
> <http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/trade-in-services-agreement/news/Pages/
> news.aspx> information-free update: "Parties agreed to a comprehensive
> stocktake of the negotiations, identifying progress made and areas which
> require ongoing technical work." New Zealand's government can't even be
> bothered to provide updates, instead offering only discredited, boilerplate
> <https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/agreements-under-ne
> gotiation/tisa/> public-relations puffery similar to other trade offices.
>
> The one hint that TISA negotiations are experiencing difficulty that could
> be found through an extensive online search is this passage in a U.S.
> <https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44354.pdf> Congressional Research Service
> report dated January 3, 2017: "Recognizing that outstanding issues remain
> and the U.S. position under a new administration is unclear, the parties
> canceled the planned December 2016 meeting but are meeting to determine how
> best to move forward in 2017." Given that the new administration is moving
> as fast as possible to eliminate the tepid Dodd-Frank Act
> financial-industry
> reforms, it would seem TISA's provisions to dismantle financial regulation
> globally would not be a problem at all.
>
> But that these talks are not progressing at the present time does not mean
> the world can relax. It took years of cross-border organizing and popular
> education to stop the TPP, and this effort will have to replicated if TISA
> is to be halted.
>
> The details are the devils already known
>
> Commentary accompanying Bilaterals.org's publication of several TISA
> chapters stresses that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite its apparent
> defeat, is nonetheless
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/?amidst-political-uncertainty-new> being used as
> the model for the Trade In Services Agreement. Thus we are at risk of the
> TPP becoming the "new norm":
>
> "Several proposed texts from the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
> agreement have been transferred to TiSA - including state-owned
> enterprises;
> rights to hold data offshore (including financial data); e-commerce; and
> prohibitions on performance requirements for foreign investors. While these
> texts originated with the United States, they appear to be supported by
> other parties to the TPP, even though those governments were reluctant to
> agree to them in the TPP and will no longer be bound by that agreement.
> That
> suggests the TPP may become the new norm even though it has only been
> ratified in two of the 12 countries, and that was done on the basis of U.S.
> participation that no longer applies. TPP cannot be allowed to become the
> new 'default' position for these flawed agreements."
>
> Some of the most extreme measures have been dropped (at least for now) and
> much of the text is not agreed. Nonetheless, there is nothing to cheer
> about, Bilaterals.org reports.
>
> "The effectiveness of opposition to TiSA has led governments to conclude
> that they cannot sell some of the more extreme proposals, which have thus
> been dropped from previous leaked texts. But the fetters on the rights and
> responsibilities of governments to regulate in the interests of their
> citizens from what remains would still go further than any single other
> agreement. There are no improvements on the inadequate protections for
> health, environment, privacy, workers, human rights, or economic
> development. And there is nothing to prevent developing countries becoming
> even more vulnerable and dependent in an already unequal and unfair global
> economy."
>
> Hypocritically, TISA would prohibit developing countries from adopting
> measures that countries like the United States used to facilitate its
> industrial development when it was an emerging country in the 19th century.
> In
> <https://wikileaks.org/tisa/New-Provisions/analysis/Analysis-of-TiSA-Annex-o
> n-New-Provisions.pdf> an analysis for WikiLeaks, Sanya Reid Smith of the
> Third World Network, an international coalition specializing in development
> issues, wrote:
>
> "[T]he proposals in this text restrict the ability of developing countries
> to use the development paths taken by many of the developed TISA countries.
> Some experts call this developed countries 'kicking away the ladder' after
> they have climbed up, to prevent developing countries from developing the
> same way. . In TISA, the USA is proposing restrictions on host countries
> being able to require senior managers be citizens of the host country. Yet
> when it was a capital importer, the USA had the opposite law: its 1885
> contract labour law prohibited the import of foreign workers, i.e. the USA
> required senior managers (and all other staff) be Americans, which
> increased
> the chances of skills being passed to locals."
>
> Letting banks decide what's good for you
>
> These proposals are more extreme than language in existing bilateral trade
> agreements. Many of TISA's provisions are lifted from TPP, but some go
> beyond the latter's already extreme proposals For example, not even the TPP
> contemplated the entire elimination of regulations of any kind against the
> financial industry. Article 14 of TISA's annex on financial services, which
> had contained the most explicit language prohibiting regulation, has been
> removed, but Article 9 still contains language requiring no limitations
> beyond those applying to domestic financial firms. In other words, a
> smaller
> country would be required to allow a giant bank from a bigger country to
> take over its entire banking system.
>
> Incredibly, regulations against financial derivatives yet to be invented
> would be illegal. A
> <https://wikileaks.org/tisa/analysis/Analysis-of-20150415_Annex-on-Financial
> -Services/Analysis-of-20150415_Annex-on-Financial-Services.pdf> Public
> Citizen analysis states:
>
> "TISA would require governments to allow any new financial products and
> services - including ones not yet invented - to be sold within their
> territories. The TISA Annex on Financial Services clearly states that TISA
> governments 'shall permit' foreign-owned firms to introduce any new
> financial product or service, so long as it does not require a new law or a
> change to an existing law."
>
> As another example, the financial-services annex (in article 21) would
> require that any government that offers financial products through its
> postal service l
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/IMG/pdf/financial_services.pdf#21> essen the
> quality of its products so that those are no better than what private
> corporations offer. Article 1 of the financial-services annex states that
> "activities forming part of a statutory system of social security or public
> retirement plans" are specifically covered by TISA, as are "activities
> conducted by a central bank or monetary authority or by any other public
> entity in pursuit of monetary or exchange-rate policies."
>
> That social security or other public retirement systems are covered is
> cause
> for much alarm because they could be judged to be "illegally competing"
> with
> private financial enterprises. It is conceivable that central banks could
> be
> constrained from actions intended to shore up economies during a future
> financial crisis if banks decide such measures "constrain" their massive
> profiteering off the crisis.
>
>
> <https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/02/tisa-cou
> ntries-e1486734978847.png>
>
> Article 10 of the annex continues to explicitly
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/IMG/pdf/financial_services.pdf#12> ban
> restrictions on the transfer of information in "electronic or other form"
> of
> any "financial service supplier." In other words, EU laws guarding privacy
> that stop U.S.-based Internet companies from taking data outside the EU to
> circumvent those privacy laws would be null and void. Laws instituting
> privacy protections would be verboten before they could be enacted. These
> rules, if enacted, could also provide a boon to companies like Uber whose
> modus operandi is to
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/high-tech-exploitation/>
> circumvent local laws. The Bilaterals.org analysis accompanying the leaks
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/?amidst-political-uncertainty-new> notes:
>
> "The main thrust of TiSA comes through the e-commerce, telecommunications,
> financial services and localisation rules and countries' commitments to
> allow unfettered cross-border supply of services. Together they would
> empower the global platforms who hold big data, like Google, without
> effective privacy protections, and tech companies like Uber, who have
> become
> notorious for evading national regulation, paying minimal tax and
> exploiting
> so-called self-employed workers. Given the backlash against global deals
> for
> global corporations TiSA will simply add fuel to the bonfire."
>
> Who interprets the rule is crucial
>
> The language of TISA, like all "free trade" agreements, is dry and
> legalistic. How these rules are interpreted is what ultimately matters.
> TISA
> contains standard language requiring arbitration by judges possessing
> "requisite knowledge"; that language means that the usual lineup of
> corporate lawyers who represent corporations in these tribunals will switch
> hats to sit in judgment. The tribunals used to settle these "investor-state
> disputes" are held in secret with no accountability and no appeal.
>
> The intention of "free trade" agreements is to elevate corporations to the
> level of governments. In reality, they raise corporations above the level
> of
> governments because only "investors" can sue; governments and people can't.
> "Investors" can sue governments to overturn any law or regulation that they
> claim will hurt profits or even potential future profits. On top of this, a
> government ordinarily has to pay millions of dollars in costs even in the
> rare instances when they win one of these cases.
>
> Each "free trade" agreement has a key provision
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/investor-dispute-mechanis
> ms/> elevating corporations above governments that codifies the "equal
> treatment" of business interests in accordance with international law and
> enables corporations to sue over any regulation or other government act
> that
> violates "investor rights," which means any regulation or law that might
> prevent the corporation from extracting the maximum possible profit. Under
> these provisions, taxation and regulation constitute "indirect
> expropriation" mandating compensation - a reduction in the value of an
> asset
> is sufficient to establish expropriation rather than a physical taking of
> property as required under customary law. Tribunal decisions become
> precedents for further expansions of investor "rights" and thus constitute
> the "evolving standard of investor rights" required under "free trade"
> agreements. TISA contains the usual passages requiring "equal treatment."
>
> At bottom, "free trade" deals have little to do with trade and much to do
> with imposing corporate wish lists through undemocratic means, including
> the
> elimination of any meaningful regulations for labor, safety, health or the
> environment. TISA is another route to imposing more of this agenda. And the
> TPP itself isn't necessarily dead - both Chile and New Zealand are holding
> discussions with other TPP countries to salvage some of the deal. Chile has
> invited TPP countries, plus China,
> <https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/chilean-official-hopes-upcoming-summit-w
> ill-provide-avenue-tpp-deal-chinese-involvement> to a March summit and the
> New Zealand
> <https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/new-zealands-trade-minister-fact-finding
> -trip-tpp-countries> trade minister is visiting Australia, Japan, Mexico
> and
> Singapore.
>
> Working people around the world scored a major victory in stopping the TPP,
> at least in its current form. The activists who achieved this deserve much
> credit. But there is far more to do. Capital never rests; nor can we. Here
> we have class warfare in naked fashion, and there is no doubt on which side
> the capitalist world's governments lie.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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> TPP Is Not Dead: It's Now Called Trade In Services Agreement
>
>
>
> Educate! <https://popularresistance.org/category/educate/> TISA
> <https://popularresistance.org/tag/tisa/> , TPP
> <https://popularresistance.org/tag/tpp/>
> By Peter Dolack, www.systemicdisorder.wordpress.com
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/tisa-worse-than-tpp/>
> February 10th, 2017
>
> Powered by https://translate.google.com/Translate
> <https://translate.google.com/>
>
> 'Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
>
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
>
> Above Photo: by Annette Dubois
>
> One can hear the cry ringing through the boardrooms of capital: "Free trade
> is dead! Long live free trade!"
>
> Think the ideas behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the so-called "free
> trade" regime are buried? Sadly, no. Definitely, no. Some of the countries
> involved in negotiating the TPP seeking to find ways to resurrect it in
> some
> new form - but that isn't the most distressing news. What's worse is the
> TPP
> remains alive in a new form with even worse rules. Meet the Trade In
> Services Agreement, even more secret than the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
> And
> more dangerous.
>
> The Trade In Services Agreement (TISA), currently being negotiated among 50
> countries, if passed would prohibit regulations on the financial industry,
> eliminate laws to safeguard online or digital privacy, render illegal any
> "buy local" rules at any level of government, effectively dismantle any
> public advantages to be derived from state-owned enterprises and eliminate
> net neutrality.
>
> TISA negotiations began in April 2013 and have gone through 21 rounds.
> Silence has been the rule for these talks, and we only know what's in it
> because of leaks, earlier ones published by WikiLeaks and now a new cache
> published January 29 <http://www.bilaterals.org/?+-tisa-+> by
> Bilaterals.org.
>
> Earlier draft versions of TISA's language would prohibit any restrictions
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/no-regulation-trade-in-se
> rvices-agreement/> on the size, expansion or entry of financial companies
> and a ban on new regulations, including a specific ban on any law that
> separates commercial and investment banking, such as the equivalent of the
> U.S. Glass-Steagall Act. It would also ban any restrictions on the transfer
> of any data collected, including across borders; place social security
> systems at risk of privatization or elimination; and put an end to Internet
> privacy
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/tisa-censorship-no-privac
> y/> and net neutrality. It hasn't gotten any more acceptable.
>
> TISA is the backup plan in case the TPP
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/why-tpp-text-is-secret/>
> and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/goodbye-democracy-transat
> lantic-partnership/> don't come to fruition. Perhaps fearful that the
> recent spotlight put on "free trade" deals might derail TISA as it derailed
> TPP, the governmental trade offices negotiating it have not announced the
> next negotiating date. The closest toward any meaningful information found
> was the Australian government's bland statement that
> <http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/trade-in-services-agreement/news/Pages/
> news.aspx> the "Parties agreed to reconvene in 2017."
>
> The cover story for why TISA is being negotiated is that it would uphold
> the
> right to hire the accountant or engineer of your choice, but in reality is
> intended to enable the financial industry and Internet companies to run
> roughshod over countries around the world. And while "liberalization" of
> professional services is being promoted, the definition of "services" is
> being expanded in order to stretch the category to encompass manufacturing.
> Deborah James of the Center for Economy and Policy Research laid out the
> breathtaking scope
> <https://popularresistance.org/there-is-still-one-big-corporate-trade-deal-t
> hat-must-be-stopped/> of this proposal:
>
> "Corporations no longer consider setting up a plant and producing goods to
> be simply 'manufacturing goods.' This activity is now is broken down into
> research and development services, design services, legal services, real
> estate services, architecture services, engineering services, construction
> services, energy services, employment contracting services, consulting
> services, manufacturing services, adult education services, payroll
> services, maintenance services, refuse disposal services, warehousing
> services, data management services, telecommunications services,
> audiovisual
> services, banking services, accounting services, insurance services,
> transportation services, distribution services, marketing services, retail
> services, postal and expedited delivery services, and after-sales
> servicing,
> to name a few. Going further, a shoe or watch that measures steps or sleep
> could be a fitness monitoring service, not a good. A driverless car could
> be
> a transport service, not an automobile. Google and Facebook could be
> information services and communication services, respectively."
>
> Why is it you are kept in the dark?
>
> Before we get to the details of the text itself, let's take a quick look at
> how the world's governments, on behalf of multi-national capital, are
> letting their citizens know what they are up to. Or, to be more accurate,
> what they are not telling you. Many governments have not bothered to update
> their official pages extolling TISA in months.
>
> The European Union is negotiating TISA on behalf of its 28 member
> countries,
> along with, among others, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New
> Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Norway,
> Switzerland, Pakistan and Turkey.
>
> In the United States, the new Trump administration has yet to say a word
> about it. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative web site's page on
> TISA <https://ustr.gov/TiSA> still says "TiSA is part of the Obama
> Administration's ongoing effort to create economic opportunity for U.S.
> workers and businesses by expanding trade opportunities." Uh-huh. President
> Donald Trump is not against
> <http://www.leftvoice.org/Free-Trade-Agreements-and-the-Dynamics-of-Capitali
> sm> "free trade" deals; he simply claims he can do it better. The Trump
> administration has issued blustery calls for "fair deals" and braggadocio
> puffing up Donald Trump's supposed negotiating prowess. A typical White
> House passage
> <https://www.whitehouse.gov/trade-deals-working-all-americans>
> reads, "To carry out his strategy, the President is appointing the toughest
> and smartest to his trade team, ensuring that Americans have the best
> negotiators possible. For too long, trade deals have been negotiated by,
> and
> for, members of the Washington establishment."
>
> More typical of the TISA negotiators is the latest report
> <http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2016/november/tradoc_155095.pdf>
> from the European Commission, which summarized the latest round, held last
> November, this way: "Parties made good progress in working towards an
> agreed
> text and finding pathways towards solving the most controversial
> outstanding
> issues at both Chief Negotiators and Heads of Delegation levels." The
> Canadian government's last update
> <http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/topics-
> domaines/services/tisa-acs.aspx?lang=eng> is from last June and declares
> "Parties conducted a stocktaking session to assess the level of progress on
> all issues."
>
> Traveling across the Pacific brings no more useful information. Australia's
> government offers this information-free update
> <http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/trade-in-services-agreement/news/Pages/
> news.aspx> : "Parties agreed to a comprehensive stocktake of the
> negotiations, identifying progress made and areas which require ongoing
> technical work." New Zealand's government can't even be bothered to provide
> updates, instead offering only discredited, boilerplate public-relations
> puffery
> <https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/agreements-under-ne
> gotiation/tisa/> similar to other trade offices.
>
> The one hint that TISA negotiations are experiencing difficulty that could
> be found through an extensive online search is this passage in a U.S.
> Congressional Research Service report
> <https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44354.pdf> dated January 3, 2017:
> "Recognizing that outstanding issues remain and the U.S. position under a
> new administration is unclear, the parties canceled the planned December
> 2016 meeting but are meeting to determine how best to move forward in
> 2017."
> Given that the new administration is moving as fast as possible to
> eliminate
> the tepid Dodd-Frank Act financial-industry reforms, it would seem TISA's
> provisions to dismantle financial regulation globally would not be a
> problem
> at all.
>
> But that these talks are not progressing at the present time does not mean
> the world can relax. It took years of cross-border organizing and popular
> education to stop the TPP, and this effort will have to replicated if TISA
> is to be halted.
>
> The details are the devils already known
>
> Commentary accompanying Bilaterals.org's publication of several TISA
> chapters stresses that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite its apparent
> defeat, is nonetheless being used as the model
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/?amidst-political-uncertainty-new> for the
> Trade
> In Services Agreement. Thus we are at risk of the TPP becoming the "new
> norm":
>
> "Several proposed texts from the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
> agreement have been transferred to TiSA - including state-owned
> enterprises;
> rights to hold data offshore (including financial data); e-commerce; and
> prohibitions on performance requirements for foreign investors. While these
> texts originated with the United States, they appear to be supported by
> other parties to the TPP, even though those governments were reluctant to
> agree to them in the TPP and will no longer be bound by that agreement.
> That
> suggests the TPP may become the new norm even though it has only been
> ratified in two of the 12 countries, and that was done on the basis of U.S.
> participation that no longer applies. TPP cannot be allowed to become the
> new 'default' position for these flawed agreements."
>
> Some of the most extreme measures have been dropped (at least for now) and
> much of the text is not agreed. Nonetheless, there is nothing to cheer
> about, Bilaterals.org reports.
>
> "The effectiveness of opposition to TiSA has led governments to conclude
> that they cannot sell some of the more extreme proposals, which have thus
> been dropped from previous leaked texts. But the fetters on the rights and
> responsibilities of governments to regulate in the interests of their
> citizens from what remains would still go further than any single other
> agreement. There are no improvements on the inadequate protections for
> health, environment, privacy, workers, human rights, or economic
> development. And there is nothing to prevent developing countries becoming
> even more vulnerable and dependent in an already unequal and unfair global
> economy."
>
> Hypocritically, TISA would prohibit developing countries from adopting
> measures that countries like the United States used to facilitate its
> industrial development when it was an emerging country in the 19th century.
> In an analysis for
> <https://wikileaks.org/tisa/New-Provisions/analysis/Analysis-of-TiSA-Annex-o
> n-New-Provisions.pdf> WikiLeaks, Sanya Reid Smith of the Third World
> Network, an international coalition specializing in development issues,
> wrote:
>
> "[T]he proposals in this text restrict the ability of developing countries
> to use the development paths taken by many of the developed TISA countries.
> Some experts call this developed countries 'kicking away the ladder' after
> they have climbed up, to prevent developing countries from developing the
> same way. . In TISA, the USA is proposing restrictions on host countries
> being able to require senior managers be citizens of the host country. Yet
> when it was a capital importer, the USA had the opposite law: its 1885
> contract labour law prohibited the import of foreign workers, i.e. the USA
> required senior managers (and all other staff) be Americans, which
> increased
> the chances of skills being passed to locals."
>
> Letting banks decide what's good for you
>
> These proposals are more extreme than language in existing bilateral trade
> agreements. Many of TISA's provisions are lifted from TPP, but some go
> beyond the latter's already extreme proposals For example, not even the TPP
> contemplated the entire elimination of regulations of any kind against the
> financial industry. Article 14 of TISA's annex on financial services, which
> had contained the most explicit language prohibiting regulation, has been
> removed, but Article 9 still contains language requiring no limitations
> beyond those applying to domestic financial firms. In other words, a
> smaller
> country would be required to allow a giant bank from a bigger country to
> take over its entire banking system.
>
> Incredibly, regulations against financial derivatives yet to be invented
> would be illegal. A Public Citizen analysis
> <https://wikileaks.org/tisa/analysis/Analysis-of-20150415_Annex-on-Financial
> -Services/Analysis-of-20150415_Annex-on-Financial-Services.pdf> states:
>
> "TISA would require governments to allow any new financial products and
> services - including ones not yet invented - to be sold within their
> territories. The TISA Annex on Financial Services clearly states that TISA
> governments 'shall permit' foreign-owned firms to introduce any new
> financial product or service, so long as it does not require a new law or a
> change to an existing law."
>
> As another example, the financial-services annex (in article 21) would
> require that any government that offers financial products through its
> postal service lessen the quality
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/IMG/pdf/financial_services.pdf#21> of its
> products so that those are no better than what private corporations offer.
> Article 1 of the financial-services annex states that "activities forming
> part of a statutory system of social security or public retirement plans"
> are specifically covered by TISA, as are "activities conducted by a central
> bank or monetary authority or by any other public entity in pursuit of
> monetary or exchange-rate policies."
>
> That social security or other public retirement systems are covered is
> cause
> for much alarm because they could be judged to be "illegally competing"
> with
> private financial enterprises. It is conceivable that central banks could
> be
> constrained from actions intended to shore up economies during a future
> financial crisis if banks decide such measures "constrain" their massive
> profiteering off the crisis.
>
> https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/02/tisa-coun
> tries-e1486734978847.pnghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/u
> ploads/2017/02/tisa-countries-e1486734978847.png
>
> Article 10 of the annex continues to explicitly ban restrictions on the
> transfer <http://www.bilaterals.org/IMG/pdf/financial_services.pdf#12> of
> information in "electronic or other form" of any "financial service
> supplier." In other words, EU laws guarding privacy that stop U.S.-based
> Internet companies from taking data outside the EU to circumvent those
> privacy laws would be null and void. Laws instituting privacy protections
> would be verboten before they could be enacted. These rules, if enacted,
> could also provide a boon to companies like Uber whose modus operandi is to
> circumvent local laws
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/high-tech-exploitation/>
> . The Bilaterals.org analysis accompanying the leaks notes
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/?amidst-political-uncertainty-new> :
>
> "The main thrust of TiSA comes through the e-commerce, telecommunications,
> financial services and localisation rules and countries' commitments to
> allow unfettered cross-border supply of services. Together they would
> empower the global platforms who hold big data, like Google, without
> effective privacy protections, and tech companies like Uber, who have
> become
> notorious for evading national regulation, paying minimal tax and
> exploiting
> so-called self-employed workers. Given the backlash against global deals
> for
> global corporations TiSA will simply add fuel to the bonfire."
>
> Who interprets the rule is crucial
>
> The language of TISA, like all "free trade" agreements, is dry and
> legalistic. How these rules are interpreted is what ultimately matters.
> TISA
> contains standard language requiring arbitration by judges possessing
> "requisite knowledge"; that language means that the usual lineup of
> corporate lawyers who represent corporations in these tribunals will switch
> hats to sit in judgment. The tribunals used to settle these "investor-state
> disputes" are held in secret with no accountability and no appeal.
>
> The intention of "free trade" agreements is to elevate corporations to the
> level of governments. In reality, they raise corporations above the level
> of
> governments because only "investors" can sue; governments and people can't.
> "Investors" can sue governments to overturn any law or regulation that they
> claim will hurt profits or even potential future profits. On top of this, a
> government ordinarily has to pay millions of dollars in costs even in the
> rare instances when they win one of these cases.
>
> Each "free trade" agreement has a key provision elevating corporations
> above
> governments
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/investor-dispute-mechanis
> ms/> that codifies the "equal treatment" of business interests in
> accordance with international law and enables corporations to sue over any
> regulation or other government act that violates "investor rights," which
> means any regulation or law that might prevent the corporation from
> extracting the maximum possible profit. Under these provisions, taxation
> and
> regulation constitute "indirect expropriation" mandating compensation - a
> reduction in the value of an asset is sufficient to establish expropriation
> rather than a physical taking of property as required under customary law.
> Tribunal decisions become precedents for further expansions of investor
> "rights" and thus constitute the "evolving standard of investor rights"
> required under "free trade" agreements. TISA contains the usual passages
> requiring "equal treatment."
>
> At bottom, "free trade" deals have little to do with trade and much to do
> with imposing corporate wish lists through undemocratic means, including
> the
> elimination of any meaningful regulations for labor, safety, health or the
> environment. TISA is another route to imposing more of this agenda. And the
> TPP itself isn't necessarily dead - both Chile and New Zealand are holding
> discussions with other TPP countries to salvage some of the deal. Chile has
> invited TPP countries, plus China, to a March summit
> <https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/chilean-official-hopes-upcoming-summit-w
> ill-provide-avenue-tpp-deal-chinese-involvement> and the New Zealand trade
> minister is visiting
> <https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/new-zealands-trade-minister-fact-finding
> -trip-tpp-countries> Australia, Japan, Mexico and Singapore.
>
> Working people around the world scored a major victory in stopping the TPP,
> at least in its current form. The activists who achieved this deserve much
> credit. But there is far more to do. Capital never rests; nor can we. Here
> we have class warfare in naked fashion, and there is no doubt on which side
> the capitalist world's governments lie.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
"...The intention of "free trade" agreements is to elevate
corporations to the level of governments. In reality, they raise
corporations above the level of governments because only "investors"
can sue; governments and people can't."
This has been my contention for some time. No longer will our
grandchildren sing, God Bless America..." Instead it will be, "God
Bless Standard Oil...", or some other corporate state to which we owe
allegiance.
Carl Jarvis
On 2/11/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> TPP Is Not Dead: It's Now Called Trade In Services Agreement
>
>
>
> By Peter Dolack,
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/tisa-worse-than-tpp/>
> www.systemicdisorder.wordpress.com
> February 10th, 2017
>
>
> <https://popularresistance.org/tpp-is-not-dead-its-now-called-trade-in-servi
> ces-agreement/>
>
> Above Photo: by Annette Dubois
>
> One can hear the cry ringing through the boardrooms of capital: "Free trade
> is dead! Long live free trade!"
>
> Think the ideas behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the so-called "free
> trade" regime are buried? Sadly, no. Definitely, no. Some of the countries
> involved in negotiating the TPP seeking to find ways to resurrect it in
> some
> new form - but that isn't the most distressing news. What's worse is the
> TPP
> remains alive in a new form with even worse rules. Meet the Trade In
> Services Agreement, even more secret than the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
> And
> more dangerous.
>
> The Trade In Services Agreement (TISA), currently being negotiated among 50
> countries, if passed would prohibit regulations on the financial industry,
> eliminate laws to safeguard online or digital privacy, render illegal any
> "buy local" rules at any level of government, effectively dismantle any
> public advantages to be derived from state-owned enterprises and eliminate
> net neutrality.
>
> TISA negotiations began in April 2013 and have gone through 21 rounds.
> Silence has been the rule for these talks, and we only know what's in it
> because of leaks, earlier ones published by WikiLeaks and now a new
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/?+-tisa-+> cache published January 29 by
> Bilaterals.org.
>
> Earlier draft versions of TISA's language would
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/no-regulation-trade-in-se
> rvices-agreement/> prohibit any restrictions on the size, expansion or
> entry
> of financial companies and a ban on new regulations, including a specific
> ban on any law that separates commercial and investment banking, such as
> the
> equivalent of the U.S. Glass-Steagall Act. It would also ban any
> restrictions on the transfer of any data collected, including across
> borders; place social security systems at risk of privatization or
> elimination; and put an
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/tisa-censorship-no-privac
> y/> end to Internet privacy and net neutrality. It hasn't gotten any more
> acceptable.
>
> TISA is the backup plan in case
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/why-tpp-text-is-secret/>
> the TPP and the
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/goodbye-democracy-transat
> lantic-partnership/> Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership don't
> come to fruition. Perhaps fearful that the recent spotlight put on "free
> trade" deals might derail TISA as it derailed TPP, the governmental trade
> offices negotiating it have not announced the next negotiating date. The
> closest toward any meaningful information found was the Australian
> government's
> <http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/trade-in-services-agreement/news/Pages/
> news.aspx> bland statement that the "Parties agreed to reconvene in 2017."
>
> The cover story for why TISA is being negotiated is that it would uphold
> the
> right to hire the accountant or engineer of your choice, but in reality is
> intended to enable the financial industry and Internet companies to run
> roughshod over countries around the world. And while "liberalization" of
> professional services is being promoted, the definition of "services" is
> being expanded in order to stretch the category to encompass manufacturing.
> Deborah James of the Center for Economy and Policy Research
> <https://popularresistance.org/there-is-still-one-big-corporate-trade-deal-t
> hat-must-be-stopped/> laid out the breathtaking scope of this proposal:
>
> "Corporations no longer consider setting up a plant and producing goods to
> be simply 'manufacturing goods.' This activity is now is broken down into
> research and development services, design services, legal services, real
> estate services, architecture services, engineering services, construction
> services, energy services, employment contracting services, consulting
> services, manufacturing services, adult education services, payroll
> services, maintenance services, refuse disposal services, warehousing
> services, data management services, telecommunications services,
> audiovisual
> services, banking services, accounting services, insurance services,
> transportation services, distribution services, marketing services, retail
> services, postal and expedited delivery services, and after-sales
> servicing,
> to name a few. Going further, a shoe or watch that measures steps or sleep
> could be a fitness monitoring service, not a good. A driverless car could
> be
> a transport service, not an automobile. Google and Facebook could be
> information services and communication services, respectively."
>
> Why is it you are kept in the dark?
>
> Before we get to the details of the text itself, let's take a quick look at
> how the world's governments, on behalf of multi-national capital, are
> letting their citizens know what they are up to. Or, to be more accurate,
> what they are not telling you. Many governments have not bothered to update
> their official pages extolling TISA in months.
>
> The European Union is negotiating TISA on behalf of its 28 member
> countries,
> along with, among others, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New
> Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Norway,
> Switzerland, Pakistan and Turkey.
>
> In the United States, the new Trump administration has yet to say a word
> about it. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative web site's
> <https://ustr.gov/TiSA> page on TISA still says "TiSA is part of the Obama
> Administration's ongoing effort to create economic opportunity for U.S.
> workers and businesses by expanding trade opportunities." Uh-huh. President
> Donald Trump is
> <http://www.leftvoice.org/Free-Trade-Agreements-and-the-Dynamics-of-Capitali
> sm> not against "free trade" deals; he simply claims he can do it better.
> The Trump administration has issued blustery calls for "fair deals" and
> braggadocio puffing up Donald Trump's supposed negotiating prowess. A
> typical <https://www.whitehouse.gov/trade-deals-working-all-americans>
> White House passage reads, "To carry out his strategy, the President is
> appointing the toughest and smartest to his trade team, ensuring that
> Americans have the best negotiators possible. For too long, trade deals
> have
> been negotiated by, and for, members of the Washington establishment."
>
> More typical of the TISA negotiators is
> <http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2016/november/tradoc_155095.pdf> the
> latest report from the European Commission, which summarized the latest
> round, held last November, this way: "Parties made good progress in working
> towards an agreed text and finding pathways towards solving the most
> controversial outstanding issues at both Chief Negotiators and Heads of
> Delegation levels." The Canadian government's
> <http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/topics-
> domaines/services/tisa-acs.aspx?lang=eng> last update is from last June and
> declares "Parties conducted a stocktaking session to assess the level of
> progress on all issues."
>
> Traveling across the Pacific brings no more useful information. Australia's
> government offers this
> <http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/trade-in-services-agreement/news/Pages/
> news.aspx> information-free update: "Parties agreed to a comprehensive
> stocktake of the negotiations, identifying progress made and areas which
> require ongoing technical work." New Zealand's government can't even be
> bothered to provide updates, instead offering only discredited, boilerplate
> <https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/agreements-under-ne
> gotiation/tisa/> public-relations puffery similar to other trade offices.
>
> The one hint that TISA negotiations are experiencing difficulty that could
> be found through an extensive online search is this passage in a U.S.
> <https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44354.pdf> Congressional Research Service
> report dated January 3, 2017: "Recognizing that outstanding issues remain
> and the U.S. position under a new administration is unclear, the parties
> canceled the planned December 2016 meeting but are meeting to determine how
> best to move forward in 2017." Given that the new administration is moving
> as fast as possible to eliminate the tepid Dodd-Frank Act
> financial-industry
> reforms, it would seem TISA's provisions to dismantle financial regulation
> globally would not be a problem at all.
>
> But that these talks are not progressing at the present time does not mean
> the world can relax. It took years of cross-border organizing and popular
> education to stop the TPP, and this effort will have to replicated if TISA
> is to be halted.
>
> The details are the devils already known
>
> Commentary accompanying Bilaterals.org's publication of several TISA
> chapters stresses that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite its apparent
> defeat, is nonetheless
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/?amidst-political-uncertainty-new> being used as
> the model for the Trade In Services Agreement. Thus we are at risk of the
> TPP becoming the "new norm":
>
> "Several proposed texts from the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
> agreement have been transferred to TiSA - including state-owned
> enterprises;
> rights to hold data offshore (including financial data); e-commerce; and
> prohibitions on performance requirements for foreign investors. While these
> texts originated with the United States, they appear to be supported by
> other parties to the TPP, even though those governments were reluctant to
> agree to them in the TPP and will no longer be bound by that agreement.
> That
> suggests the TPP may become the new norm even though it has only been
> ratified in two of the 12 countries, and that was done on the basis of U.S.
> participation that no longer applies. TPP cannot be allowed to become the
> new 'default' position for these flawed agreements."
>
> Some of the most extreme measures have been dropped (at least for now) and
> much of the text is not agreed. Nonetheless, there is nothing to cheer
> about, Bilaterals.org reports.
>
> "The effectiveness of opposition to TiSA has led governments to conclude
> that they cannot sell some of the more extreme proposals, which have thus
> been dropped from previous leaked texts. But the fetters on the rights and
> responsibilities of governments to regulate in the interests of their
> citizens from what remains would still go further than any single other
> agreement. There are no improvements on the inadequate protections for
> health, environment, privacy, workers, human rights, or economic
> development. And there is nothing to prevent developing countries becoming
> even more vulnerable and dependent in an already unequal and unfair global
> economy."
>
> Hypocritically, TISA would prohibit developing countries from adopting
> measures that countries like the United States used to facilitate its
> industrial development when it was an emerging country in the 19th century.
> In
> <https://wikileaks.org/tisa/New-Provisions/analysis/Analysis-of-TiSA-Annex-o
> n-New-Provisions.pdf> an analysis for WikiLeaks, Sanya Reid Smith of the
> Third World Network, an international coalition specializing in development
> issues, wrote:
>
> "[T]he proposals in this text restrict the ability of developing countries
> to use the development paths taken by many of the developed TISA countries.
> Some experts call this developed countries 'kicking away the ladder' after
> they have climbed up, to prevent developing countries from developing the
> same way. . In TISA, the USA is proposing restrictions on host countries
> being able to require senior managers be citizens of the host country. Yet
> when it was a capital importer, the USA had the opposite law: its 1885
> contract labour law prohibited the import of foreign workers, i.e. the USA
> required senior managers (and all other staff) be Americans, which
> increased
> the chances of skills being passed to locals."
>
> Letting banks decide what's good for you
>
> These proposals are more extreme than language in existing bilateral trade
> agreements. Many of TISA's provisions are lifted from TPP, but some go
> beyond the latter's already extreme proposals For example, not even the TPP
> contemplated the entire elimination of regulations of any kind against the
> financial industry. Article 14 of TISA's annex on financial services, which
> had contained the most explicit language prohibiting regulation, has been
> removed, but Article 9 still contains language requiring no limitations
> beyond those applying to domestic financial firms. In other words, a
> smaller
> country would be required to allow a giant bank from a bigger country to
> take over its entire banking system.
>
> Incredibly, regulations against financial derivatives yet to be invented
> would be illegal. A
> <https://wikileaks.org/tisa/analysis/Analysis-of-20150415_Annex-on-Financial
> -Services/Analysis-of-20150415_Annex-on-Financial-Services.pdf> Public
> Citizen analysis states:
>
> "TISA would require governments to allow any new financial products and
> services - including ones not yet invented - to be sold within their
> territories. The TISA Annex on Financial Services clearly states that TISA
> governments 'shall permit' foreign-owned firms to introduce any new
> financial product or service, so long as it does not require a new law or a
> change to an existing law."
>
> As another example, the financial-services annex (in article 21) would
> require that any government that offers financial products through its
> postal service l
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/IMG/pdf/financial_services.pdf#21> essen the
> quality of its products so that those are no better than what private
> corporations offer. Article 1 of the financial-services annex states that
> "activities forming part of a statutory system of social security or public
> retirement plans" are specifically covered by TISA, as are "activities
> conducted by a central bank or monetary authority or by any other public
> entity in pursuit of monetary or exchange-rate policies."
>
> That social security or other public retirement systems are covered is
> cause
> for much alarm because they could be judged to be "illegally competing"
> with
> private financial enterprises. It is conceivable that central banks could
> be
> constrained from actions intended to shore up economies during a future
> financial crisis if banks decide such measures "constrain" their massive
> profiteering off the crisis.
>
>
> <https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/02/tisa-cou
> ntries-e1486734978847.png>
>
> Article 10 of the annex continues to explicitly
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/IMG/pdf/financial_services.pdf#12> ban
> restrictions on the transfer of information in "electronic or other form"
> of
> any "financial service supplier." In other words, EU laws guarding privacy
> that stop U.S.-based Internet companies from taking data outside the EU to
> circumvent those privacy laws would be null and void. Laws instituting
> privacy protections would be verboten before they could be enacted. These
> rules, if enacted, could also provide a boon to companies like Uber whose
> modus operandi is to
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/high-tech-exploitation/>
> circumvent local laws. The Bilaterals.org analysis accompanying the leaks
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/?amidst-political-uncertainty-new> notes:
>
> "The main thrust of TiSA comes through the e-commerce, telecommunications,
> financial services and localisation rules and countries' commitments to
> allow unfettered cross-border supply of services. Together they would
> empower the global platforms who hold big data, like Google, without
> effective privacy protections, and tech companies like Uber, who have
> become
> notorious for evading national regulation, paying minimal tax and
> exploiting
> so-called self-employed workers. Given the backlash against global deals
> for
> global corporations TiSA will simply add fuel to the bonfire."
>
> Who interprets the rule is crucial
>
> The language of TISA, like all "free trade" agreements, is dry and
> legalistic. How these rules are interpreted is what ultimately matters.
> TISA
> contains standard language requiring arbitration by judges possessing
> "requisite knowledge"; that language means that the usual lineup of
> corporate lawyers who represent corporations in these tribunals will switch
> hats to sit in judgment. The tribunals used to settle these "investor-state
> disputes" are held in secret with no accountability and no appeal.
>
> The intention of "free trade" agreements is to elevate corporations to the
> level of governments. In reality, they raise corporations above the level
> of
> governments because only "investors" can sue; governments and people can't.
> "Investors" can sue governments to overturn any law or regulation that they
> claim will hurt profits or even potential future profits. On top of this, a
> government ordinarily has to pay millions of dollars in costs even in the
> rare instances when they win one of these cases.
>
> Each "free trade" agreement has a key provision
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/investor-dispute-mechanis
> ms/> elevating corporations above governments that codifies the "equal
> treatment" of business interests in accordance with international law and
> enables corporations to sue over any regulation or other government act
> that
> violates "investor rights," which means any regulation or law that might
> prevent the corporation from extracting the maximum possible profit. Under
> these provisions, taxation and regulation constitute "indirect
> expropriation" mandating compensation - a reduction in the value of an
> asset
> is sufficient to establish expropriation rather than a physical taking of
> property as required under customary law. Tribunal decisions become
> precedents for further expansions of investor "rights" and thus constitute
> the "evolving standard of investor rights" required under "free trade"
> agreements. TISA contains the usual passages requiring "equal treatment."
>
> At bottom, "free trade" deals have little to do with trade and much to do
> with imposing corporate wish lists through undemocratic means, including
> the
> elimination of any meaningful regulations for labor, safety, health or the
> environment. TISA is another route to imposing more of this agenda. And the
> TPP itself isn't necessarily dead - both Chile and New Zealand are holding
> discussions with other TPP countries to salvage some of the deal. Chile has
> invited TPP countries, plus China,
> <https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/chilean-official-hopes-upcoming-summit-w
> ill-provide-avenue-tpp-deal-chinese-involvement> to a March summit and the
> New Zealand
> <https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/new-zealands-trade-minister-fact-finding
> -trip-tpp-countries> trade minister is visiting Australia, Japan, Mexico
> and
> Singapore.
>
> Working people around the world scored a major victory in stopping the TPP,
> at least in its current form. The activists who achieved this deserve much
> credit. But there is far more to do. Capital never rests; nor can we. Here
> we have class warfare in naked fashion, and there is no doubt on which side
> the capitalist world's governments lie.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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> TPP Is Not Dead: It's Now Called Trade In Services Agreement
>
>
>
> Educate! <https://popularresistance.org/category/educate/> TISA
> <https://popularresistance.org/tag/tisa/> , TPP
> <https://popularresistance.org/tag/tpp/>
> By Peter Dolack, www.systemicdisorder.wordpress.com
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/tisa-worse-than-tpp/>
> February 10th, 2017
>
> Powered by https://translate.google.com/Translate
> <https://translate.google.com/>
>
> 'Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
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>
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
>
> Above Photo: by Annette Dubois
>
> One can hear the cry ringing through the boardrooms of capital: "Free trade
> is dead! Long live free trade!"
>
> Think the ideas behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the so-called "free
> trade" regime are buried? Sadly, no. Definitely, no. Some of the countries
> involved in negotiating the TPP seeking to find ways to resurrect it in
> some
> new form - but that isn't the most distressing news. What's worse is the
> TPP
> remains alive in a new form with even worse rules. Meet the Trade In
> Services Agreement, even more secret than the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
> And
> more dangerous.
>
> The Trade In Services Agreement (TISA), currently being negotiated among 50
> countries, if passed would prohibit regulations on the financial industry,
> eliminate laws to safeguard online or digital privacy, render illegal any
> "buy local" rules at any level of government, effectively dismantle any
> public advantages to be derived from state-owned enterprises and eliminate
> net neutrality.
>
> TISA negotiations began in April 2013 and have gone through 21 rounds.
> Silence has been the rule for these talks, and we only know what's in it
> because of leaks, earlier ones published by WikiLeaks and now a new cache
> published January 29 <http://www.bilaterals.org/?+-tisa-+> by
> Bilaterals.org.
>
> Earlier draft versions of TISA's language would prohibit any restrictions
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/no-regulation-trade-in-se
> rvices-agreement/> on the size, expansion or entry of financial companies
> and a ban on new regulations, including a specific ban on any law that
> separates commercial and investment banking, such as the equivalent of the
> U.S. Glass-Steagall Act. It would also ban any restrictions on the transfer
> of any data collected, including across borders; place social security
> systems at risk of privatization or elimination; and put an end to Internet
> privacy
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/tisa-censorship-no-privac
> y/> and net neutrality. It hasn't gotten any more acceptable.
>
> TISA is the backup plan in case the TPP
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/why-tpp-text-is-secret/>
> and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/goodbye-democracy-transat
> lantic-partnership/> don't come to fruition. Perhaps fearful that the
> recent spotlight put on "free trade" deals might derail TISA as it derailed
> TPP, the governmental trade offices negotiating it have not announced the
> next negotiating date. The closest toward any meaningful information found
> was the Australian government's bland statement that
> <http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/trade-in-services-agreement/news/Pages/
> news.aspx> the "Parties agreed to reconvene in 2017."
>
> The cover story for why TISA is being negotiated is that it would uphold
> the
> right to hire the accountant or engineer of your choice, but in reality is
> intended to enable the financial industry and Internet companies to run
> roughshod over countries around the world. And while "liberalization" of
> professional services is being promoted, the definition of "services" is
> being expanded in order to stretch the category to encompass manufacturing.
> Deborah James of the Center for Economy and Policy Research laid out the
> breathtaking scope
> <https://popularresistance.org/there-is-still-one-big-corporate-trade-deal-t
> hat-must-be-stopped/> of this proposal:
>
> "Corporations no longer consider setting up a plant and producing goods to
> be simply 'manufacturing goods.' This activity is now is broken down into
> research and development services, design services, legal services, real
> estate services, architecture services, engineering services, construction
> services, energy services, employment contracting services, consulting
> services, manufacturing services, adult education services, payroll
> services, maintenance services, refuse disposal services, warehousing
> services, data management services, telecommunications services,
> audiovisual
> services, banking services, accounting services, insurance services,
> transportation services, distribution services, marketing services, retail
> services, postal and expedited delivery services, and after-sales
> servicing,
> to name a few. Going further, a shoe or watch that measures steps or sleep
> could be a fitness monitoring service, not a good. A driverless car could
> be
> a transport service, not an automobile. Google and Facebook could be
> information services and communication services, respectively."
>
> Why is it you are kept in the dark?
>
> Before we get to the details of the text itself, let's take a quick look at
> how the world's governments, on behalf of multi-national capital, are
> letting their citizens know what they are up to. Or, to be more accurate,
> what they are not telling you. Many governments have not bothered to update
> their official pages extolling TISA in months.
>
> The European Union is negotiating TISA on behalf of its 28 member
> countries,
> along with, among others, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New
> Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Norway,
> Switzerland, Pakistan and Turkey.
>
> In the United States, the new Trump administration has yet to say a word
> about it. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative web site's page on
> TISA <https://ustr.gov/TiSA> still says "TiSA is part of the Obama
> Administration's ongoing effort to create economic opportunity for U.S.
> workers and businesses by expanding trade opportunities." Uh-huh. President
> Donald Trump is not against
> <http://www.leftvoice.org/Free-Trade-Agreements-and-the-Dynamics-of-Capitali
> sm> "free trade" deals; he simply claims he can do it better. The Trump
> administration has issued blustery calls for "fair deals" and braggadocio
> puffing up Donald Trump's supposed negotiating prowess. A typical White
> House passage
> <https://www.whitehouse.gov/trade-deals-working-all-americans>
> reads, "To carry out his strategy, the President is appointing the toughest
> and smartest to his trade team, ensuring that Americans have the best
> negotiators possible. For too long, trade deals have been negotiated by,
> and
> for, members of the Washington establishment."
>
> More typical of the TISA negotiators is the latest report
> <http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2016/november/tradoc_155095.pdf>
> from the European Commission, which summarized the latest round, held last
> November, this way: "Parties made good progress in working towards an
> agreed
> text and finding pathways towards solving the most controversial
> outstanding
> issues at both Chief Negotiators and Heads of Delegation levels." The
> Canadian government's last update
> <http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/topics-
> domaines/services/tisa-acs.aspx?lang=eng> is from last June and declares
> "Parties conducted a stocktaking session to assess the level of progress on
> all issues."
>
> Traveling across the Pacific brings no more useful information. Australia's
> government offers this information-free update
> <http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/trade-in-services-agreement/news/Pages/
> news.aspx> : "Parties agreed to a comprehensive stocktake of the
> negotiations, identifying progress made and areas which require ongoing
> technical work." New Zealand's government can't even be bothered to provide
> updates, instead offering only discredited, boilerplate public-relations
> puffery
> <https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/agreements-under-ne
> gotiation/tisa/> similar to other trade offices.
>
> The one hint that TISA negotiations are experiencing difficulty that could
> be found through an extensive online search is this passage in a U.S.
> Congressional Research Service report
> <https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44354.pdf> dated January 3, 2017:
> "Recognizing that outstanding issues remain and the U.S. position under a
> new administration is unclear, the parties canceled the planned December
> 2016 meeting but are meeting to determine how best to move forward in
> 2017."
> Given that the new administration is moving as fast as possible to
> eliminate
> the tepid Dodd-Frank Act financial-industry reforms, it would seem TISA's
> provisions to dismantle financial regulation globally would not be a
> problem
> at all.
>
> But that these talks are not progressing at the present time does not mean
> the world can relax. It took years of cross-border organizing and popular
> education to stop the TPP, and this effort will have to replicated if TISA
> is to be halted.
>
> The details are the devils already known
>
> Commentary accompanying Bilaterals.org's publication of several TISA
> chapters stresses that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite its apparent
> defeat, is nonetheless being used as the model
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/?amidst-political-uncertainty-new> for the
> Trade
> In Services Agreement. Thus we are at risk of the TPP becoming the "new
> norm":
>
> "Several proposed texts from the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
> agreement have been transferred to TiSA - including state-owned
> enterprises;
> rights to hold data offshore (including financial data); e-commerce; and
> prohibitions on performance requirements for foreign investors. While these
> texts originated with the United States, they appear to be supported by
> other parties to the TPP, even though those governments were reluctant to
> agree to them in the TPP and will no longer be bound by that agreement.
> That
> suggests the TPP may become the new norm even though it has only been
> ratified in two of the 12 countries, and that was done on the basis of U.S.
> participation that no longer applies. TPP cannot be allowed to become the
> new 'default' position for these flawed agreements."
>
> Some of the most extreme measures have been dropped (at least for now) and
> much of the text is not agreed. Nonetheless, there is nothing to cheer
> about, Bilaterals.org reports.
>
> "The effectiveness of opposition to TiSA has led governments to conclude
> that they cannot sell some of the more extreme proposals, which have thus
> been dropped from previous leaked texts. But the fetters on the rights and
> responsibilities of governments to regulate in the interests of their
> citizens from what remains would still go further than any single other
> agreement. There are no improvements on the inadequate protections for
> health, environment, privacy, workers, human rights, or economic
> development. And there is nothing to prevent developing countries becoming
> even more vulnerable and dependent in an already unequal and unfair global
> economy."
>
> Hypocritically, TISA would prohibit developing countries from adopting
> measures that countries like the United States used to facilitate its
> industrial development when it was an emerging country in the 19th century.
> In an analysis for
> <https://wikileaks.org/tisa/New-Provisions/analysis/Analysis-of-TiSA-Annex-o
> n-New-Provisions.pdf> WikiLeaks, Sanya Reid Smith of the Third World
> Network, an international coalition specializing in development issues,
> wrote:
>
> "[T]he proposals in this text restrict the ability of developing countries
> to use the development paths taken by many of the developed TISA countries.
> Some experts call this developed countries 'kicking away the ladder' after
> they have climbed up, to prevent developing countries from developing the
> same way. . In TISA, the USA is proposing restrictions on host countries
> being able to require senior managers be citizens of the host country. Yet
> when it was a capital importer, the USA had the opposite law: its 1885
> contract labour law prohibited the import of foreign workers, i.e. the USA
> required senior managers (and all other staff) be Americans, which
> increased
> the chances of skills being passed to locals."
>
> Letting banks decide what's good for you
>
> These proposals are more extreme than language in existing bilateral trade
> agreements. Many of TISA's provisions are lifted from TPP, but some go
> beyond the latter's already extreme proposals For example, not even the TPP
> contemplated the entire elimination of regulations of any kind against the
> financial industry. Article 14 of TISA's annex on financial services, which
> had contained the most explicit language prohibiting regulation, has been
> removed, but Article 9 still contains language requiring no limitations
> beyond those applying to domestic financial firms. In other words, a
> smaller
> country would be required to allow a giant bank from a bigger country to
> take over its entire banking system.
>
> Incredibly, regulations against financial derivatives yet to be invented
> would be illegal. A Public Citizen analysis
> <https://wikileaks.org/tisa/analysis/Analysis-of-20150415_Annex-on-Financial
> -Services/Analysis-of-20150415_Annex-on-Financial-Services.pdf> states:
>
> "TISA would require governments to allow any new financial products and
> services - including ones not yet invented - to be sold within their
> territories. The TISA Annex on Financial Services clearly states that TISA
> governments 'shall permit' foreign-owned firms to introduce any new
> financial product or service, so long as it does not require a new law or a
> change to an existing law."
>
> As another example, the financial-services annex (in article 21) would
> require that any government that offers financial products through its
> postal service lessen the quality
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/IMG/pdf/financial_services.pdf#21> of its
> products so that those are no better than what private corporations offer.
> Article 1 of the financial-services annex states that "activities forming
> part of a statutory system of social security or public retirement plans"
> are specifically covered by TISA, as are "activities conducted by a central
> bank or monetary authority or by any other public entity in pursuit of
> monetary or exchange-rate policies."
>
> That social security or other public retirement systems are covered is
> cause
> for much alarm because they could be judged to be "illegally competing"
> with
> private financial enterprises. It is conceivable that central banks could
> be
> constrained from actions intended to shore up economies during a future
> financial crisis if banks decide such measures "constrain" their massive
> profiteering off the crisis.
>
> https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/02/tisa-coun
> tries-e1486734978847.pnghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/u
> ploads/2017/02/tisa-countries-e1486734978847.png
>
> Article 10 of the annex continues to explicitly ban restrictions on the
> transfer <http://www.bilaterals.org/IMG/pdf/financial_services.pdf#12> of
> information in "electronic or other form" of any "financial service
> supplier." In other words, EU laws guarding privacy that stop U.S.-based
> Internet companies from taking data outside the EU to circumvent those
> privacy laws would be null and void. Laws instituting privacy protections
> would be verboten before they could be enacted. These rules, if enacted,
> could also provide a boon to companies like Uber whose modus operandi is to
> circumvent local laws
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/high-tech-exploitation/>
> . The Bilaterals.org analysis accompanying the leaks notes
> <http://www.bilaterals.org/?amidst-political-uncertainty-new> :
>
> "The main thrust of TiSA comes through the e-commerce, telecommunications,
> financial services and localisation rules and countries' commitments to
> allow unfettered cross-border supply of services. Together they would
> empower the global platforms who hold big data, like Google, without
> effective privacy protections, and tech companies like Uber, who have
> become
> notorious for evading national regulation, paying minimal tax and
> exploiting
> so-called self-employed workers. Given the backlash against global deals
> for
> global corporations TiSA will simply add fuel to the bonfire."
>
> Who interprets the rule is crucial
>
> The language of TISA, like all "free trade" agreements, is dry and
> legalistic. How these rules are interpreted is what ultimately matters.
> TISA
> contains standard language requiring arbitration by judges possessing
> "requisite knowledge"; that language means that the usual lineup of
> corporate lawyers who represent corporations in these tribunals will switch
> hats to sit in judgment. The tribunals used to settle these "investor-state
> disputes" are held in secret with no accountability and no appeal.
>
> The intention of "free trade" agreements is to elevate corporations to the
> level of governments. In reality, they raise corporations above the level
> of
> governments because only "investors" can sue; governments and people can't.
> "Investors" can sue governments to overturn any law or regulation that they
> claim will hurt profits or even potential future profits. On top of this, a
> government ordinarily has to pay millions of dollars in costs even in the
> rare instances when they win one of these cases.
>
> Each "free trade" agreement has a key provision elevating corporations
> above
> governments
> <https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/investor-dispute-mechanis
> ms/> that codifies the "equal treatment" of business interests in
> accordance with international law and enables corporations to sue over any
> regulation or other government act that violates "investor rights," which
> means any regulation or law that might prevent the corporation from
> extracting the maximum possible profit. Under these provisions, taxation
> and
> regulation constitute "indirect expropriation" mandating compensation - a
> reduction in the value of an asset is sufficient to establish expropriation
> rather than a physical taking of property as required under customary law.
> Tribunal decisions become precedents for further expansions of investor
> "rights" and thus constitute the "evolving standard of investor rights"
> required under "free trade" agreements. TISA contains the usual passages
> requiring "equal treatment."
>
> At bottom, "free trade" deals have little to do with trade and much to do
> with imposing corporate wish lists through undemocratic means, including
> the
> elimination of any meaningful regulations for labor, safety, health or the
> environment. TISA is another route to imposing more of this agenda. And the
> TPP itself isn't necessarily dead - both Chile and New Zealand are holding
> discussions with other TPP countries to salvage some of the deal. Chile has
> invited TPP countries, plus China, to a March summit
> <https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/chilean-official-hopes-upcoming-summit-w
> ill-provide-avenue-tpp-deal-chinese-involvement> and the New Zealand trade
> minister is visiting
> <https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/new-zealands-trade-minister-fact-finding
> -trip-tpp-countries> Australia, Japan, Mexico and Singapore.
>
> Working people around the world scored a major victory in stopping the TPP,
> at least in its current form. The activists who achieved this deserve much
> credit. But there is far more to do. Capital never rests; nor can we. Here
> we have class warfare in naked fashion, and there is no doubt on which side
> the capitalist world's governments lie.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Re: [blind-democracy] Calling Trump a ‘fascist’ disorients the working class
"What working people need is to organize independently of both
capitalist parties."
Well said. But the hard part is in the doing. With so much confusing
propaganda by the Ruling Class, and so many years in refining their
control over the working class, the task of teaching people to think,
is daunting.
Call Donald J. Trump a Fascist and his opponents eagerly agree, while
his defenders snarl and hurl curses. And nothing changes. But
challenge the corrupt capitalist system and you could well wind up
like Leon Trotsky or Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior. Or you might
find yourself living in poverty and shunned by your former friends,
like Paul Robeson. The Great American Capitalist Oligarchy can allow
us to tear down their shills and front men. They have unlimited
numbers of eager ass kissers waiting in the wings. What we, the
working class, lack are ass kickers.
Let's turn our attention away from Donald J. Trump and pull on our
steel toed boots.
Carl Jarvis
On 2/12/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> http://themilitant.com/2017/8107/810702.html
> The Militant (logo)
>
> Vol. 81/No. 7 February 20, 2017
>
> (front page, commentary)
>
> Calling Trump a 'fascist' disorients the working class
>
>
> BY SETH GALINSKY
> Many liberals, some conservatives and almost the entire middle-class
> left call President Donald Trump and his administration fascist. Drawing
> on the rich history of the revolutionary workers movement, the Socialist
> Workers Party has a different view.
> Is there something fundamentally different about the Trump
> administration compared to previous Democratic and Republican ones? Is
> Trump really a new Adolph Hitler or "Mussolini in a blue suit and tie,"
> as Norman Pollack wrote on the Counterpunch website Feb. 3?
>
> Or is Trump simply the new chief executive officer of the U.S. ruling
> class, who won election because of the widespread distrust in his
> opponent Hillary Clinton and interest in the working class for political
> change at a time when they're being battered by the effects of a
> deepening worldwide capitalist economic crisis?
>
> The answer to this question has serious political consequences for
> anyone who is interested in defending the interests of the working class
> in the United States and around the world.
>
> Because of the decline in Marxist political culture in the world today,
> "fascist" is an epithet used by many on the left to mean any demagogic
> politician. They care little for seeking to learn the rich history of
> the revolutionary working-class movement's writings on fascism from
> Germany and Italy to the U.S.
>
> Fascism is the name given to reactionary mass movements that arose
> leading up to World War II — like those led by Benito Mussolini in Italy
> and Hitler in Germany and with echoes in the U.S. and other imperialist
> countries — that were backed by the capitalist classes in those
> countries when the existing dictatorship of capital could no longer
> survive by normal "democratic" means.
>
> Leon Trotsky, a leader of the Russian Revolution, who was expelled from
> the Soviet Union in 1929 by Joseph Stalin as part of a broader
> counterrevolution against the program of V.I. Lenin that led the workers
> and farmers of Russia to power in 1917, wrote extensively about fascism.
> His goal was to lay bare the class dynamics that led to its rise and to
> politically prepare revolutionary-minded workers to fight against it.
>
> Through the fascist movement "capitalism sets in motion the masses of
> the crazed petty bourgeoisie and the bands of declassed and demoralized
> lumpenproletariat — all the countless human beings whom finance capital
> itself has brought to desperation and frenzy," Trotsky explained, and
> then uses them as thugs to smash the labor movement and its vanguard
> communist organizations.
>
> The fascists "initially rail against 'high finance' and the bankers,
> lacing their nationalist demagogy with anticapitalist demagogy," notes
> Socialist Workers Party National Secretary Jack Barnes in Capitalism's
> World Disorder. In order to divert ruined petty-bourgeois elements and
> demoralized workers from seeing capitalism as the problem, the Nazis
> scapegoated the Jews as responsible for the growing economic and
> political crisis and whipped up calls for a "final" solution to the
> "Jewish question." At the same time, the fascists "ape much of the
> language of currents in the workers movement. 'Nazi' was short for
> National Socialist German Workers Party."
>
> "Fascism is not a form of capitalist rule, but a way of maintaining
> capitalist rule," Barnes said.
>
> Fascist groups, which exist on the fringes at first, only get financial
> and political backing from a significant section of the bourgeoisie when
> the working class "puts up an increasingly serious challenge to
> capitalist rule itself," Barnes said.
>
> In Germany and Italy the working class was unable to unify and mobilize
> its allies to overthrow capitalism and take power because of the
> betrayal by the Stalinist Communist Party and the reformist Social
> Democrats.
>
> In 1930 the Social Democratic Party received 8,577,700 votes and the
> Communist Party 4,592,100 votes compared to 6,409,600 for the Nazis. If
> the Social Democrats and Communist Party had formed a united front, if
> the trade unions they led had built workers defense guards, if they were
> on a political course to lead the working class to overthrow capitalist
> rule, they could have stopped fascism on the road to power. Instead,
> they did nothing to stand up to the fascist gangs and Hitler came to
> power without a fight.
>
> Workers paid the price of the Stalinist and Social Democratic betrayal
> in blood. Millions of Jews and gypsies were sent to their deaths in
> concentration camps. The unions were destroyed. The working class was
> driven off the political stage.
>
> Counterpunch's Pollack says the election of Trump is "a forward space in
> what I term a pre-fascist configuration, i.e., analogous to Germany in
> 1938." Hardly.
>
> Trump surprised bourgeois politicians and pundits across the political
> spectrum. He convinced a layer of workers that he was the lesser evil
> compared to Clinton; not so hard to do given the anti-working-class
> record of Bill and Hillary Clinton when they occupied the White House.
> Hillary Clinton helped Trump win by calling workers who were considering
> a vote for him "deplorables" and "irredemables."
>
> That's the same language many on the left still use today. Andrew
> Levine, says in Counterpunch Feb. 3, that "Trump's supporters fall into
> three broad categories: dupes, deplorables, and opportunists."
>
> Levine says it's "the lowlifes whose cages he [Trump] had rattled and
> whose passions he had inflamed" that are the problem, showing his scorn
> and fear of the working class.
>
> In fact, Trump's policies are a mix of steps designed to attract
> working-class support, like his disdain for the government's fake
> unemployment figures and his call for infrastructure building and a
> repair program to provide jobs, with demagogic nationalist rhetoric that
> divides the working class. Like other bourgeois politicians he seeks to
> shore up capitalism.
>
> Facts don't matter to the 'left'
> To those crying "fascist," however, the facts don't matter.
>
> Workers World Party leader Larry Holmes, to take just one example, said
> in a Jan. 29 speech, "Building the 'Wall' and this ban on Muslims are
> fascist acts."
>
> Holmes leaves out that about 650 miles of the "wall" along the
> U.S.-Mexico border has already been built, mostly by the administrations
> of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Does Holmes think Clinton and Obama
> are fascists?
>
> Labeling Trump a fascist, helps pave the way for resuscitating the
> Democrats, the rulers' other party, as the answer.
>
> There is another danger in mislabeling Trump and his administration as
> fascist. It disarms the working class politically for when fascism
> really does raise its ugly head once again — as it inevitably will when
> the ruling families see no other way to maintain capitalism.
>
> Communist workers don't care which bourgeois candidate any individual
> workers voted for — or didn't — in the presidential election. What
> working people need is to organize independently of both capitalist
> parties.
>
> Far from the political space for workers to discuss, debate and fight
> having been smashed by fascist gangs, the field is wide open. The
> Socialist Workers Party's candidates take its revolutionary program and
> win support on workers' doorsteps in cities, towns and the countryside,
> as well as on strike picket lines and social protest actions.
>
> We say the Socialist Workers Party is your party. What we do now in
> building a revolutionary workers party will be decisive in the years ahead.
>
>
> Related articles:
> Anarchist 'black bloc' politics pose threat to working class
> Berkeley: Anarchists shut down speaker, attack workers
> Fascism rises when capital must crush working class
>
>
>
> Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home
>
>
>
>
>
capitalist parties."
Well said. But the hard part is in the doing. With so much confusing
propaganda by the Ruling Class, and so many years in refining their
control over the working class, the task of teaching people to think,
is daunting.
Call Donald J. Trump a Fascist and his opponents eagerly agree, while
his defenders snarl and hurl curses. And nothing changes. But
challenge the corrupt capitalist system and you could well wind up
like Leon Trotsky or Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior. Or you might
find yourself living in poverty and shunned by your former friends,
like Paul Robeson. The Great American Capitalist Oligarchy can allow
us to tear down their shills and front men. They have unlimited
numbers of eager ass kissers waiting in the wings. What we, the
working class, lack are ass kickers.
Let's turn our attention away from Donald J. Trump and pull on our
steel toed boots.
Carl Jarvis
On 2/12/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> http://themilitant.com/2017/8107/810702.html
> The Militant (logo)
>
> Vol. 81/No. 7 February 20, 2017
>
> (front page, commentary)
>
> Calling Trump a 'fascist' disorients the working class
>
>
> BY SETH GALINSKY
> Many liberals, some conservatives and almost the entire middle-class
> left call President Donald Trump and his administration fascist. Drawing
> on the rich history of the revolutionary workers movement, the Socialist
> Workers Party has a different view.
> Is there something fundamentally different about the Trump
> administration compared to previous Democratic and Republican ones? Is
> Trump really a new Adolph Hitler or "Mussolini in a blue suit and tie,"
> as Norman Pollack wrote on the Counterpunch website Feb. 3?
>
> Or is Trump simply the new chief executive officer of the U.S. ruling
> class, who won election because of the widespread distrust in his
> opponent Hillary Clinton and interest in the working class for political
> change at a time when they're being battered by the effects of a
> deepening worldwide capitalist economic crisis?
>
> The answer to this question has serious political consequences for
> anyone who is interested in defending the interests of the working class
> in the United States and around the world.
>
> Because of the decline in Marxist political culture in the world today,
> "fascist" is an epithet used by many on the left to mean any demagogic
> politician. They care little for seeking to learn the rich history of
> the revolutionary working-class movement's writings on fascism from
> Germany and Italy to the U.S.
>
> Fascism is the name given to reactionary mass movements that arose
> leading up to World War II — like those led by Benito Mussolini in Italy
> and Hitler in Germany and with echoes in the U.S. and other imperialist
> countries — that were backed by the capitalist classes in those
> countries when the existing dictatorship of capital could no longer
> survive by normal "democratic" means.
>
> Leon Trotsky, a leader of the Russian Revolution, who was expelled from
> the Soviet Union in 1929 by Joseph Stalin as part of a broader
> counterrevolution against the program of V.I. Lenin that led the workers
> and farmers of Russia to power in 1917, wrote extensively about fascism.
> His goal was to lay bare the class dynamics that led to its rise and to
> politically prepare revolutionary-minded workers to fight against it.
>
> Through the fascist movement "capitalism sets in motion the masses of
> the crazed petty bourgeoisie and the bands of declassed and demoralized
> lumpenproletariat — all the countless human beings whom finance capital
> itself has brought to desperation and frenzy," Trotsky explained, and
> then uses them as thugs to smash the labor movement and its vanguard
> communist organizations.
>
> The fascists "initially rail against 'high finance' and the bankers,
> lacing their nationalist demagogy with anticapitalist demagogy," notes
> Socialist Workers Party National Secretary Jack Barnes in Capitalism's
> World Disorder. In order to divert ruined petty-bourgeois elements and
> demoralized workers from seeing capitalism as the problem, the Nazis
> scapegoated the Jews as responsible for the growing economic and
> political crisis and whipped up calls for a "final" solution to the
> "Jewish question." At the same time, the fascists "ape much of the
> language of currents in the workers movement. 'Nazi' was short for
> National Socialist German Workers Party."
>
> "Fascism is not a form of capitalist rule, but a way of maintaining
> capitalist rule," Barnes said.
>
> Fascist groups, which exist on the fringes at first, only get financial
> and political backing from a significant section of the bourgeoisie when
> the working class "puts up an increasingly serious challenge to
> capitalist rule itself," Barnes said.
>
> In Germany and Italy the working class was unable to unify and mobilize
> its allies to overthrow capitalism and take power because of the
> betrayal by the Stalinist Communist Party and the reformist Social
> Democrats.
>
> In 1930 the Social Democratic Party received 8,577,700 votes and the
> Communist Party 4,592,100 votes compared to 6,409,600 for the Nazis. If
> the Social Democrats and Communist Party had formed a united front, if
> the trade unions they led had built workers defense guards, if they were
> on a political course to lead the working class to overthrow capitalist
> rule, they could have stopped fascism on the road to power. Instead,
> they did nothing to stand up to the fascist gangs and Hitler came to
> power without a fight.
>
> Workers paid the price of the Stalinist and Social Democratic betrayal
> in blood. Millions of Jews and gypsies were sent to their deaths in
> concentration camps. The unions were destroyed. The working class was
> driven off the political stage.
>
> Counterpunch's Pollack says the election of Trump is "a forward space in
> what I term a pre-fascist configuration, i.e., analogous to Germany in
> 1938." Hardly.
>
> Trump surprised bourgeois politicians and pundits across the political
> spectrum. He convinced a layer of workers that he was the lesser evil
> compared to Clinton; not so hard to do given the anti-working-class
> record of Bill and Hillary Clinton when they occupied the White House.
> Hillary Clinton helped Trump win by calling workers who were considering
> a vote for him "deplorables" and "irredemables."
>
> That's the same language many on the left still use today. Andrew
> Levine, says in Counterpunch Feb. 3, that "Trump's supporters fall into
> three broad categories: dupes, deplorables, and opportunists."
>
> Levine says it's "the lowlifes whose cages he [Trump] had rattled and
> whose passions he had inflamed" that are the problem, showing his scorn
> and fear of the working class.
>
> In fact, Trump's policies are a mix of steps designed to attract
> working-class support, like his disdain for the government's fake
> unemployment figures and his call for infrastructure building and a
> repair program to provide jobs, with demagogic nationalist rhetoric that
> divides the working class. Like other bourgeois politicians he seeks to
> shore up capitalism.
>
> Facts don't matter to the 'left'
> To those crying "fascist," however, the facts don't matter.
>
> Workers World Party leader Larry Holmes, to take just one example, said
> in a Jan. 29 speech, "Building the 'Wall' and this ban on Muslims are
> fascist acts."
>
> Holmes leaves out that about 650 miles of the "wall" along the
> U.S.-Mexico border has already been built, mostly by the administrations
> of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Does Holmes think Clinton and Obama
> are fascists?
>
> Labeling Trump a fascist, helps pave the way for resuscitating the
> Democrats, the rulers' other party, as the answer.
>
> There is another danger in mislabeling Trump and his administration as
> fascist. It disarms the working class politically for when fascism
> really does raise its ugly head once again — as it inevitably will when
> the ruling families see no other way to maintain capitalism.
>
> Communist workers don't care which bourgeois candidate any individual
> workers voted for — or didn't — in the presidential election. What
> working people need is to organize independently of both capitalist
> parties.
>
> Far from the political space for workers to discuss, debate and fight
> having been smashed by fascist gangs, the field is wide open. The
> Socialist Workers Party's candidates take its revolutionary program and
> win support on workers' doorsteps in cities, towns and the countryside,
> as well as on strike picket lines and social protest actions.
>
> We say the Socialist Workers Party is your party. What we do now in
> building a revolutionary workers party will be decisive in the years ahead.
>
>
> Related articles:
> Anarchist 'black bloc' politics pose threat to working class
> Berkeley: Anarchists shut down speaker, attack workers
> Fascism rises when capital must crush working class
>
>
>
> Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home
>
>
>
>
>
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