Thread: Groups urge U.S. Congress to reject TPP over environmental concerns | Activists say trade deal would allow fossil fuel firms to contest US environmental rules in extrajudicial tribunals

This R1 is about the comments section where /r/conspiracy is leaking.

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R1:

Everyone hates the TPP except politicians:

Pretty much everyone is against the TPP except the people who wrote it (the ones who stand to solely benefit from it) and I heard Congress is going to try and slip it through in secret. [+61]

The TPP needs to get through Congress in order to be passed. If "pretty much everyone is against the TPP," it does not make any sense for politicians to vote FOR something that no one wants. It's quite logical for politicians to become anti-TPP if that's the public sentiment in order to maximize votes and thus power. Those behind writing the TPP are looking to get it passed; this means reaching a compromise between different stakeholders. Because this deal affects nearly all sectors of the economy, and it's important to understand how specific regulations in the TPP will affect individual sectors. Since the government can't figure out the exact implications on every sector, Advisory Committees are used. These committees include Trade Advisory Councils, which have industry experts that give input on policies that are relevant to their field; here's the reports for each sector on the TPP.

Top comment:

You should watch 'requiem for an american dream' on netflix. Noam Chomsky speaks on such issues. Not this trade deal exactly but he sure explains how these things tend go work out exclusively for the corporations, and much much less so for the regular guy [+100]

Sure but there's nothing keeping the regular guy from investing in corporations and reaping some of the benefits for himself [-39]

I think the point isn't profiting, but what can the majority do to protect the world when it profits the rich to destroy it [+26]

Now Chomsky is very intelligent and made significant contributions to many fields, but he is not an economist and he is not an expert on international trade deals. Again, huge respect for the guy, but just because his documentary suggested "these things tend go work out exclusively for the corporations, and much much less so for the regular guy" doesn't mean that's how all trade deals work. Also, check out the link I gave in the sector reports for the TPP in the previous comment's rebuttal. You'll see that some sectors such as Steel are unable to make a decision but vaguely disapprove of the TPP, while others like Consumer Goods think it is beneficial.

The comment in reply to this says there's nothing keeping the average Joe from benefiting from the TPP by investing in corporations. The comment after that says the problem with the TPP isn't that regular people will not profit from it. Instead, it suggests that the rich are maximizing their profit by destroying the world (did I interpret that right?). Not entirely sure how the rich will benefit with a destroyed world...

Wot:

The basics:

"If passed, the TPP would:

make it easier for big corporations to ship our jobs overseas, pushing down our wages and increasing income inequality,

flood our country with unsafe imported food,

jack up the cost of medicines by giving big pharmaceutical corporations new monopoly rights to keep lower cost generic drugs off the market,

empower corporations to attack our environmental and health safeguards,

ban Buy American policies needed to create green jobs,

roll back Wall Street reforms,

sneak in SOPA-like threats to Internet freedom,

and undermine human rights." [+5]

Shipping our jobs oversees will occur if its cheaper to do so even without the trade agreement. Additionally, the TPP will increase wages without increasing unemployment; there will be a movement of labor between firms, but imposing free trade won't simply kill American jobs.

Second, the TPP doesn't mean we'll start eating diseased, dangerous food. It does not abolish the FDA and the SPS chapter of the TPP itself imposes specific regulation for this issue.

Third, no where in the TPP does it allow the US to "roll back Wall Street reforms." Here's the Financial Services section for the US- nothing about Wall Street regulation.

Regarding the Pharma comment, the ITAC report for Chemicals, Pharma, & Health/Science Products states that: "Many of our members have concerns about the agreement that was reached on intellectual property impacting the pharmaceutical industry as well as the agreement on Rules of Origin" (pg. 6) and "Pharmaceuticals - ITAC-3 is unable to come up with a consensus on the IP section of this agreement" (pg. 13). Their issue is with the IP laws, which do NOT favor them. The TPP's regulations mean the exact opposite of the comment will happen; faster IP expiry and thus sooner generic drug availability.

Lastly, because it's always brought up, here's /u/SavannaJeff explaining why negotiations must be secret.