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Originally posted by Javan
Ddd. CLEARLY you have already been robbed blind enough to last a life time. Don't wouldn't know exploitation if it slapped you in the face
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Give me a break. Your arrogance is astounding. Just because I have a differing opinion than yours doesn't make me blind
Let me break down my opinion on the article.
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One of the most controversial provisions in the talks includes new corporate empowerment language insisted upon by the U.S. government, which would allow foreign companies to challenge laws or regulations in a privately run international court. Under World Trade Organization treaties, this political power to contest government law is reserved for sovereign nations. The U.S. has endorsed some corporate political powers in prior trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the scope of what laws can be challenged appears to be much broader in TPP negotiations.
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It is well known that America has always been against international courts. They also refuse to recognize the International Criminal Court, All this segment really says is that the USA doesn't want anything to do with the court and corporations will have to deal with it themselves rather than depending on the government to fight for them.
In practice it would mean that companies would deal with governments directly, rather than by proxy through their own governments. I fail to see what people are pissed about on this one.
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New standards concerning access to key medicines appear to be equally problematic for many nations. The Obama administration is insisting on mandating new intellectual property rules in the treaty that would grant pharmaceutical companies long-term monopolies on new medications. As a result, companies can charge high prices without regard to competition from generic providers. The result, public health experts have warned, would be higher prices around the world, and lack of access to life-saving drugs in poor countries. ( ) Nearly every intellectual property issue in the November chart is opposed by a broad majority of the 12 nations. The December memo describes 119 "outstanding issues" that remain unresolved between the nations on intellectual property matters.
Also according to the December memo, the U.S. has reintroduced a proposal that would hamper government health services from negotiating lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. The proposal appears to have been universally rejected earlier in the talks, according to the memo.
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This is a reaction to international companies breaking patent laws. Essentially Pharma companies spend BILLIONS to develop these drugs, only to have companies in India steal the design and sell them for a fraction of what the people who make the drugs do.
In the short term you can say that these cheaper drugs are a good thing since it helps the third world. In the long term though it takes away the motivation to make new drugs. Why would a company create new anti HIV drug if it is just going to be copied for cheap and they will make no money on it?
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The U.S. is also facing major resistance on bank regulation standards. The Obama administration is seeking to curtail the use of "capital controls" by foreign governments. These can include an extremely broad variety of financial tools, from restricting lending in overheated markets to denying mass international outflows of currency during a financial panic. The loss of these tools would dramatically limit the ability of governments to prevent and stem banking crises.
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THIS I do not agree with.
However, being free market is not a new position for American Presidents. I don't see how what this memo details is in any way worse than the position almost every other recent American President would have taken.
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The Obama administration has deemed negotiations to be classified information -- banning members of Congress from discussing the American negotiating position with the press or the public. Congressional staffers have been restricted from viewing the documents.
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Not new. It is standard practice that negotiations be classified.
It should also be noted that it is standard practice in negotiations to ask for WAY more than you want in hopes of settling in the middle. If you want minimum wage raised to $10 an hour it is standard practice to start negotiations off asking for $16. Many of these propositions (if indeed really) are almost surely far more extreme than what the USA really wants.