Excerpt: "Chomsky said it was 'a joke' that the deal is designated a 'free trade' agreement."
America's leading intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: MIT)
Noam Chomsky: Trans-Pacific Partnership Is a "Neoliberal Assault"
13 January 14
The political theorist and linguist slams the agreement that has little to do with free trade.
ritics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement - a purported free trade deal between 11 countries, including the U.S., Canada and Japan, which has been in negotiations for some years - have noted that the deal has little to do with free trade. Rather, the TPP is about limiting regulation, helping corporate interests and imposes fiercer standards of intellectual property (to, again, largely benefit corporate interests).
Noam Chomsky has joined the chorus decrying the TPP. On Monday he told HuffPost Live that the deal, which is not yet finalized, is "designed to carry forward the neoliberal project to maximize profit and domination, and to set the working people in the world in competition with one another so as to lower wages to increase insecurity."
Chomsky said it was "a joke" that the deal is designated a "free trade" agreement. "It's called free trade, but that's just a joke," Chomsky said. "These are extreme, highly protectionist measures designed to undermine freedom of trade. In fact, much of what's leaked about the TPP indicates that it's not about trade at all, it's about investor rights."
The MIT professor also slammed the veil of secrecy that has surrounded TPP negotiations. Information on the deal available to Congress has even been highly limited. Were it not for a document leak published by WikiLeaks, the public would know almost nothing about the content of TPP negotiations. On reviewing the leaked draft TPP chapter, intellectual property law expert Dr. Matthew Rimmer called the deal, "a Christmas wish-list for major corporations."
As Chomsky noted:
It's very hard to make anything of the TPP because it's been kept very secret. A half-secret, I should say. It's not secret from the hundreds of corporate lawyers and lobbyists who are writing the legislation. To them, it's perfectly public. They're, in fact, writing it. It's being kept secret from the population. Which of course raises obvious questions.
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SO.
How about the Tea Party violence and disruption of town-hall meetings prior to the last elections?
How about the Republican thugs who stormed and attacked the independent vote counters in Tallahassee, Florida during the stolen election of 2000 -flown there especially by Ken Ley's (Bush's buddy "Ken-Boy's") private plane.?
How about voter-suppressi on in Florida, Ohio and now in Wisconsin, and many others past and it seems, to come?
You want me to go on? There is much, much more!
It is people like the appalling Cantor who would take the opposition's right to dissent away and anyone else who doesn't march in lockstep with the reactionary extremes he represents, as would all of those -seemingly including you- who shout loudest about democratic freedoms.
There's a difference between suppressing free speech and showing up to speak truth peacefully and even loudly, to those who have held sway far too long over too many gullible voters.
If you can't get even this basic fact straight, then you're hardly "A better man than I am Gungadin"! -With apologies to Rudyard Kipling.
That was when the wealth of the Middle Class began to diminish. Their wealth didn't just disappear, it moved to Wall Street. We really saw this during the infamous Wall Street heist of 2008. The Middle Class had their already lowered wealth stolen from them.
We have redistribution of wealth in America, and we want it back. What could be more fair? Why do Republicans like Cantor believe that stealing our savings is OK, while when we ask the crooks to pay taxes on what was stolen, we are Commies?
If he gets re-elected, I'll personally send him a "get well" card.
VOTE DEM VOTE OBAMA -- if the GOP/TP get in we will be run by the evil Koch brothers et. al. And the Supremes will vote 6-3 when Gingsberg leaves.
I cannot stand another filibuster - on important matters while the house keeps passing the same bill on abortion.
Repugnuts have about 25% more registered now -- help the minorities / old etc registered in your area. Voting is free and if your state now requires IDs - for voting those IDs are also free. Phone, go door to door, email, fliers, drive them - anything - just get them registered and also ALL Dems should get mail-in ballots. Some Dem governors are also acting like GOP --
The Norquist Cult of GOP/TP will make us worse than slaves.
The GOP has this Cain up front for a reason. I think I know why! Cain is not even registered in most states (i.e. he won't be on the ballot). The racist GOP/TP are using this clown to hide their KKK reality beliefs.
VOTE DEM VOTE OBAMA - If we get a majority -- we will get Thomas/Scalia impeached. It's a coming.
2012 is the MOST important election of our time. GO OWS - awesome and OWS have changed the tenor of the country.
Michael S. Cullen, Berlin, Germany
I guess they both needed to bail given that neither of them would have a sane answer to a sane question.
And, Gungadin. Were you this outspoken when Tea Partiers were interrupting and shouting down speakers at public meetings? Not allowing them to talk. Hmmm? Just curious.