Lobbyists, Politicians And USTR Planning A 'Rally' To Show 'Strong Support' For TAFTA
from the oh-really? dept
As the plans for the new TAFTA agreement are getting increasing heat and concern from the public, apparently the US Chamber of Commerce (a lobbying organization that has long favored these protectionist policies that seek to protect their members) along with the acting head of the USTR, Demetrios Marantis, and various "lawmakers," are planning to host a "rally" next week to pretend that there is "strong support" for such an agreement. Somehow, I doubt that this will bring out crowds of young people. Apparently this will be held on Capitol Hill and they'll be launching a "coalition" in support of "trans-atlantic trade." Sounds like a party.Of course, this reeks of desperation on the part of the USTR and the Chamber of Commerce. The momentum against these kinds of agreements has been growing, and putting together a pretend rally where the only folks likely to show up are the representatives of big legacy businesses (apparently GE and IBM expect to attend) isn't going to mollify a concerned public.
I say this as someone who believes strongly in the value and importance of free trade. Trade barriers can create serious economic harm, especially for those they're supposedly designed to help. However, the reality is that these agreements are not really about free trade. They tend to be about helping out a few legacy businesses who don't want competition and don't want to deal with the impact of innovation. And, for reasons that are beyond me, the USTR thinks it's their job to help prop up those legacy businesses and to slow down the pace of innovation. I understand why the Chamber of Commerce does this (they're paid to), but it's pretty shameless for the USTR to be so obviously in the pocket of big business, rather than representing what is really in the best interests of trade policy across the board.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: lobbyists, politicians, rally, tafta, tpp, trade agreements
Companies: us chamber of commerce
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Why should they be any different than the DOJ or other US government departments?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
/s for those with broken meters
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I'd say that a better solution would be to organize simultaneous events via the web and have hundreds of thousands attend. That would be a nice slap in their face without too much risk of getting derailed and shown everywhere that people against those laws/agreements are hooligans or something.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I'd say that a better solution would be to organize simultaneous events via the web and have hundreds of thousands attend. That would be a nice slap in their face without too much risk of getting derailed and shown everywhere that people against those laws/agreements are hooligans or something.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"Hey, once your term at the USTR is up, how'd you like to work for us? Vice presidency, six-figure salary sound good?"
And then all of a sudden they just happen to decide that propping up those legacy businesses is top priority.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Free Trade
I'm really not sure. Every time I've heard the term "free trade," I've needed to hold onto my wallet because that means someone's about to go and screw up my income.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
and as far as I can tell, they don't stand for the "little" people
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
RE: they even have an open government page
OMG I almost choked reading this,talk about LOL
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
In what way has the USTR supported innovation and new technology that benefits the average citizen? Have they instead been trying to support (legacy media) ice salesmen by restriction of (computer) refrigerator sales or use? Laws (treaties? Hahaha) that fetter cultural growth don't help anyone not even the legacy firms they try to support. A monopoly by any other name is still a monopoly.
It seems that even the lowly refrigerator is rapidly becoming a computer itself and the two words might become interchangeable soon.
Also please tell me why the USTR gets to hold a rally and not the opposition? Oh. You say you can? Sure go ahead. Just try to get a 'permit' to protest at your local city hall. Most likely the group would be forced to put the protest on some back alleyway at a time only visited by ally cats.
Its at least possible the opposition be jailed just for waving signs/slogans of opposition? Likely also tracked by some religiously/patriotically motivated nut-case, (got a better explanation?) working at the nearby reaction center, as terrorists? Didn't that exact same scenario happen to a recent peaceful protest group?
Realizing this is rain on a potential parade... The only safe way to protest these days it to donate to the EFF or the few senators willing to face the grindstone of todays current industrial/media monopolies.
Mooolah! Dirty ol cash. Funding given to a politicians campaign fund to splash wine into glasses and char thick steaks with the weak willed courtiers who follow such cash outflow. Give it up or lose to the better funded special interest corporate opposition. Ugly. but true?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Chamber_of_Commerce
Among may lobbying efforts they;
Support the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
Oppose the DISCLOSE Act, which aims to limit foreign influence on U.S. Elections.
Oppose action on climate change.
Supported corporate personhood and allowing corporations to spend unlimited sums on electioneering,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
chiavette usb
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
where the only folks allowed to show up are the representatives of big legacy businesses
FTFY
[ link to this | view in chronology ]