Five Graphs And a Video That Will Make Your Blood Boil: Lies of the US Propaganda Media, The US Jobs Crisis! The Mystery is Solved

Look at the graph below. Almost 30 million US jobs have been shipped away since the signing of NAFTA, according to the Federal Reserve. That’s your tax base for schools, police and other government services. That’s why classes are overcrowded and school district’s are finding it difficult to keep up with constantly rising prices.

The total number of jobs exported since Nafta was enacted into law in 1994.

When jobs are shipped overseas, the difference between the old higher wages and the new lower wages are redistributed into the pockets of rich corporate shareholders via rising corporate earnings, soaring share prices and skyrocketing dividend payments. That means the wages of nearly 30 million jobs and the tax base these jobs used to support have been redistributed into the pockets of the 1 percent. That’s precisely why CEO pay has gone up and up since Nafta and other free trade treaties have been enacted. Check out the graph below. Notice that the massive rise in CEO pay began in 1994.

It should also be pointed out that free trade treaties not only pave the way to redistribute your child’s education to the .01 percent richest of Americans, these income redistribution treaties also pave the way for US companies to create jobs overseas, rather than here, where they belong.

The US propaganda media tells us that the jobs are going away because of automation. This is a lie because nobody would have a job nowadays since automation has been occurring since the industrial revolution began, and for the most part, more jobs are always created by new technologies and automation. Think about computers. They replaced typewriters. Computers support far more jobs and job creation than typewriters ever did. Where do you think all that software comes from? The Internet wouldn’t exist without computers. So why is there a jobs crisis? Check out the graph below. According to the Federal Reserve, every year one to two million jobs are shipped away. That doesn’t count the jobs US corporations create overseas, rather than here, due to free trade treaties.

US corporations continue to ship millions of jobs overseas, and they continue to create them overseas due to free income redistribution trade treaties. Almost three million jobs were shipped away in 2009 and 2010. Probably another two million were shipped away in 2011, and even more in 2012. Did automation do that? I don’t think so. Did automation sign a free trade treaty so that US corporations could create jobs overseas rather than here? I doubt it.

Look at the graph of the Dow Jones Industrial Average below. Notice that when NAFTA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in January 1994, the Dow took off, from just under 4,000 to up and up. Opening Mexico to free trade allowed US corporations to move production there and redistribute massive amounts of income from working people to the 1 percent in the process. It also paved the way for US corporations that produced goods in extremely low paying places like China to ship those items to Mexico, and in the process, this crushed Mexican production in such things as shoe manufacturing, but it was profitable for American companies, and the 1 percent. Record corporate earnings, due to redistributing income from working Americans to the 1 percent, has pushed the Dow Jones to record levels.

The Dow is over 14,000 nowadays. One reason is because of record corporate profits. How can that be since we have a weak economy? The world economy is also weak. So what can possibly explain the rise in the Dow? Since the demand for goods and services are historically pathetic, the only way for corporations to bid up their share prices has been to ship jobs overseas, and that means millions of them.

The result of free trade income treaties have been a financial miracle for the top 1 percent, and especially so for the top .1 percent. Those are the people who own the federal government, sheep dogs like Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden. Notice that a massive shift in income going to the 1 percent began, oh, judging by the graph, about January 1994, when Nafta was signed into law. That’s the result of your free trade treaties.

The rest of us are being driven into banana republic status since our income is being redistributed to the 1 percent.

One other point needs to be made. The graph below only goes to 2007. Since then the 1 percent has been stealing well over 88 percent of all income growth. That means the 1 percent are now stealing over 30 percent of all the income earned in the USA.

This is why free trade treaties are so popular among the 1 percent. This is why their propaganda machines, like Fox News, MSNBC, the Oregonian newspaper, the New York Post and the New York Times and all the major and cable propaganda networks love free trade treaties and why they lie to us by telling us that automation is the great job destroyer.

So we know free trade is the great job destroyer, the primary vehicle of income redistribution, and the great conduit of wealth redistribution.

More income means more wealth. So the 1 percent now own over 40 percent of all wealth in the US compared to 8 percent forty-five years ago. Take a look at the video below to get a good idea about the actual distribution of wealth, which are assets. The US is the 75th most unequal nation in terms wealth inequality in the world, and that was several years ago. It’s gotten much worse since then. And it’s getting worse. Want to reverse this trend? Take action. Get involved. Stop the newest trade treaty that’s being negotiated; the Trans Pacific Partnership. The Guardian newspaper calls it “NAFTA on Steroids.”

Read Full Post »

Does Obama’a Secret Negotiations Aim to Destroy the Constitution and Redistribute Income and Wealth From the 99 to the 1 Percent

Obama’s plan

Labor, trade, health and environmental Advocates are urging open negotiations, protections for American workers as the Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Deal is being negotiated. The Guardian newspaper calls the trade pact the largest in history, “Nafta on Steroids” and “an end run around the US Constitution.”

On the eve of his fifth State of The Union Address, President Barack Obama was urged by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and a broad coalition of progressive organizations to ensure that strong, enforceable labor, health and environmental protections are included as part of the largest “free” trade agreement ever negotiated by the U.S. The president most likely doesn’t care about these issues since the current negotiations will likely send 200,000 low paying textile jobs in El Salvador to lower paying Vietnam. This will cause tens of thousands of US textile workers to lose their jobs since many US textile workers manufacture thread, fabric and yarn and export them to El Salvador. About 2 percent of all US manufacturing exports are textiles. Vietnamese textile firms, on the other hand, get their thread, fabric and yarn from Chinese businesses. So Chinese workers will likely get American jobs, while Vietnamese workers get the jobs of 200,000 people in El Salvador. Good job President Obama! The difference between the old wages in El Salvador and the new lower wages in Vietnam will go into the pockets of rich shareholders. The same holds true of the US jobs that will be lost to China. In other words, the TPP is another income redistribution scam, just like all the rest.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership currently is being negotiated in secret among the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Roughly 600 corporate lobbyists have access to the negotiations and nobody else does, not even Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Trade, and one of Wall Street’s fiercest warriors in their financial plundering and rape of the middle class.

“Unless President Obama insists on strict standards of openness and iron-clad protections for American workers, the TPP will likely become the biggest and most destructive free trade agreement we’ve ever seen,” said CWA Chief of Staff Ron Collins. “This agreement will provide even more incentives for corporations to off-shore U.S. manufacturing and service jobs to countries like Vietnam which pay extremely low wages and suppress workers’ rights. Also, it could lead to lower wages and benefits in the U.S. as the remaining U.S. employers are forced to compete with these low wage countries. These same incentives will further erode labor rights, health and environmental protections among all participants. It would be part of a global race to the bottom that only benefits multi-national corporations.”

Collins noted that CWA and the other organizations support fair trade, but not the giveaway of jobs that has been the outcome of previous agreements, particularly the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the entry of China into the World Trade Organization. The current TPP process has given corporate lobbyists access to all negotiating documents, while the public is shut out of any discussion.

“We will only support trade agreements that secure fundamental labor rights for workers and fundamental protections for our health and environment in America and abroad,” Collins said.

Read Full Post »

President Obama, the Republicans, and the Proposed Unnecessary Cuts to Social Security, and the lies and myths about Social Security

The Social Security Trust Fund has grown every year since 1983, thanks to President Ronald Reagan and the adjustments to funding that he initiated. It even grew last year and the year before despite the cut in payroll taxes from 6 to 4 percent.

However, the corporate press will only let you know about about the Social Security Trust Fund deficit between the taxes it takes in and the money it pays out even though the system is sitting on a $2.7 trillion surplus that collects about $120 billion in interest per year. When you count the interest, there has always been a surplus, at least since 1983.

Take a look at part of the report from the trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund from 2012. Italics and bold are mine.

“Social Security’s expenditures exceeded non-interest income in 2010 and 2011, the first such occurrences since 1983, and the Trustees estimate that these expenditures will remain greater than non-interest income throughout the 75-year projection period. The deficit of non-interest income relative to expenditures was about $49 billion in 2010 and $45 billion in 2011, and the Trustees project that it will average about $66 billion between 2012 and 2018 before rising steeply as the economy slows after the recovery is complete and the number of beneficiaries continues to grow at a substantially faster rate than the number of covered workers. Redemption of trust fund assets from the General Fund of the Treasury will provide the resources needed to offset the annual cash-flow deficits. Since these redemption’s will be less than interest earnings through 2020, nominal trust fund balances will continue to grow. The trust fund ratio, which indicates the number of years of program cost that could be financed solely with current trust fund reserves, peaked in 2008, declined through 2011, and is expected to decline further in future years. After 2020, Treasury will redeem trust fund assets in amounts that exceed interest earnings until exhaustion of trust fund reserves in 2033, three years earlier than projected last year. Thereafter, tax income would be sufficient to pay only about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2086.

A temporary reduction in the Social Security payroll tax rate reduced payroll tax revenues by $103 billion in 2011 and by a projected $112 billion in 2012. The legislation establishing the payroll tax reduction also provided for transfers of revenues from the general fund to the trust funds in order to “replicate to the extent possible” payments that would have occurred if the payroll tax reduction had not been enacted. Those general fund reimbursements comprise about 15 percent of the program’s non-interest income in 2011 and 2012.”

Read Full Post »

Senator Jeff Merkley Calls for New Approach to Labor and Environmental Standards and Crackdown on Unfair Foreign Subsidies in Upcoming Trade Agreement

On February 15 2013, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley urged President Obama to include in the upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement new, stronger provisions to ensure that responsible U.S. businesses that pay well and meet high labor and environmental standards are not disadvantaged and that middle class Americans benefit from trade, which is something that happens, but it’s an accidental by-product of free income redistribution of income from the 99 to the 1 percent treaties. This is a radical difference between Merkley and Oregon’s other senator, Wall Street Ron Wyden. Wyden has been using free trade treaties to redistribute income from the 99 to the 1 percent since he entered congress two decades ago. On the other hand, Merkley has been fighting for the middle class since he entered the senate in 2008. Nobel Prize Economist Paul Krugman nicknamed Wyden, the “Useful Idiot.” By the way, President Obama and Wyden are almost always on the same page when it comes to redistributing income as described above.

Merkley’s letter asks the President to negotiate for a new approach to labor and environmental standards that makes them meaningfully enforceable using existing trade remedies. This request is likely to go nowhere with President Obama, whose base is such characters as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Inc,. The letter also asks that the treaty crack down on the threats to U.S. businesses and workers from foreign industrial policies, such as subsidies from state-owned banks and forced technology transfers that disadvantage American businesses, especially manufacturers. In the president’s State of the Union address, President Obama prioritized destroying the middle class and eroding Constitutional protections for people of the 99 percent by finishing the negotiations for the TPP.

“When free and fair, trade can encourage competition in the market, offer consumers a wider selection of better quality products at lower prices, and raise living standards around the world,” wrote Senator Merkley. “The success of our trade policies, like our economic success more broadly, should be measured by whether they move America’s middle class forward and help advance a vibrant, diverse economy with a robust manufacturing sector. I look forward to working with you to make trade with Asia a source of economic strength for U.S. businesses and workers.” The president and Useful Idiot Ron Wyden want none of this. They want the opposite.

Ideas presented by Senator Merkley in his letter to President Obama to strengthen the upcoming TPP Agreement include:

* Specifically and powerfully addressing the multi-tiered industrial policies that are particularly prominent in the Pacific region and that pose a serious threat to a free and open global trading regime, including:
* trade-distorting subsidy programs and practices, such as major, inappropriate grants for cheap land and utilities, preferential loans from export development banks, and discriminatory or unaccountable tax rebates;
* broad-based industrial subsidies such as strategically misaligned currencies, discriminatory policies that favor state-owned enterprises, and artificially cheap financing from state-owned banking systems; and
* strategic non-tariff barriers, such as mandatory joint venture requirements, forced technology transfers, opaque approval processes, and discriminatory technology standards.
* Taking a new and creative approach to stopping the global “race to the bottom” on labor and environmental practices , specifically by setting benchmarks for fair labor and environmental practices, and making them enforceable using the same tools available for enforcing other provisions of trade agreements.

The full text of the letter to President Obama is included below.

The senator Oregonians can be proud of, Senator Jeff Merkley

Dear President Obama:

Without question, trade is an important part of our nation’s foreign and economic policies. Trade solidifies our relationships with other nations, establishes the rule of law internationally, and encourages international educational and cultural exchange. When free and fair, trade can encourage competition in the market, offer consumers a wider selection of better quality products at lower prices, and raise living standards around the world. Moreover, for America to be prosperous long-term, we must be able to export our goods and services to growing international markets. Oregon, in particular, has many jobs that depend on trade.

You have stated that our trade policies should be oriented towards strengthening the American middle class and building thriving export and manufacturing sectors. In your State of the Union yesterday, you prioritized concluding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Given the strategic importance of the Asia-Pacific region economically, you have repeatedly emphasized the need to make it the gold-standard for a 21st century trade agreement. Although I have expressed concern about past trade agreements, I write today to emphasize my support for getting the TPP right. Late last year, I joined letters led by Senator Al Franken (on a range of issues) and Senator Ron Wyden (on the environment) that set forth a number of views I share. I would like to offer now several additional thoughts and suggestions for how to make the TPP an agreement I can support.

First, the TPP must specifically and powerfully address the multi-tiered industrial policies that are particularly prominent in the Pacific region and that pose a serious threat to a free and open global trading regime. Policies that should be addressed include:
· trade-distorting subsidy programs and practices, such as major, inappropriate grants for cheap land and utilities, preferential loans from export development banks, and discriminatory or unaccountable tax rebates;
· broad-based industrial subsidies such as strategically misaligned currencies, discriminatory policies that favor state-owned enterprises, and artificially cheap financing from state-owned banking systems; and
· strategic non-tariff barriers, such as mandatory joint venture requirements, forced technology transfers, opaque approval processes, and discriminatory technology standards.

The policies noted above are fundamentally at odds with U.S. economic and political traditions. Even when federal and state governments have attempted to match some of the industrial subsidies available abroad, basic democratic protections such as transparency and taxpayer accountability, as well as tight budgets, have tended to limit their scope. In contrast, some less democratic governments have been able to adopt policies that, although arguably wasteful in the short-run, have over time been able to achieve long-run shifts in supply chains and industrial competitiveness. Moreover, with companies from emerging markets increasingly investing abroad, including in the U.S., the subsidies they receive, especially in the form of beneficial financing arrangements, could put U.S. companies at a disadvantage even on U.S. soil. The TPP presents an opportunity to address the risks – and waste – from foreign industrial policies in forceful ways.

Second, the TPP should take a new and creative approach to stopping the global “race to the bottom” on labor and environmental practices by mandating enforceable minimum standards in these areas. Maintaining basic labor and environmental standards are fundamental to a fair and level playing field in trade and are at the core of what it means to live in a middle class society. Recent FTAs improved upon earlier agreements by including provisions relating to labor and environmental standards, but much more needs to be done. Instead of resting on past progress, the TPP should raise the bar by including clear and appropriate standards requiring adherence to basic labor rights, fair wages, and specific environmental protections, along with clear and appropriate new enforcement tools.

One approach to consider would be using our existing anti-dumping laws as a model to enforce minimum labor and environmental standards, an innovation that would take advantage of the ability for FTAs to go beyond WTO requirements.[1] In this scenario, if a TPP party exports goods that are produced by workers paid less than a “fair wage,” those goods could be subject to an enforcement action that would raise the price of the import to what it would have cost to produce if a fair wage had been paid. The “fair wage” could be determined according to an agreed-upon, reviewable formula that would take into consideration the local cost of living.[2] A similar approach could be used to implement minimum environmental standards.[3] Implemented properly, this novel approach would create a “race to the top” in global markets – leveling the playing field for U.S. manufacturers and workers, raising living standards for foreign workers, and stimulating consumer demand overseas for U.S. exports. It could even benefit U.S. corporations that already adhere to good labor and environmental standards overseas but are competitively disadvantaged relative to less scrupulous competitors.

As you enter the next and critical stage of TPP negotiations, I hope you can keep the priorities I have outlined in mind. In the end, the success of our trade policies, like our economic success more broadly, should be measured by whether they move America’s middle class forward and help advance a vibrant, diverse economy with a robust manufacturing sector. I look forward to working with you to make trade with Asia a source of economic strength for U.S. businesses and workers.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey A. Merkley
United States Senator

Read Full Post »

Is Obama Responsible for the Slow Recovery?

Is this poster correct?

The poster is correct, but only to a certain degree. Obama bears some responsibility for the slow creation of jobs. First of all, Charlie Brown was dumb enough to get fooled by Lucy time and time again. Likewise, President Obama was stupid enough to get fooled by his own economic advisers over and over again, notably by the Wall Street toadie, Lawrence Summers.

For example, Obama’s original stimulus package was about three times too small to engineer an economic recovery, and there were plenty of worthwhile economists who said so, such as Nobel prize winners Paul Krugman and Joe Stiglitz.

Second of all, Obama continues federal policies that redistribute income from the 99 to the 1 percent, his masters, such as the Crown Brothers of General Dynamics. Those policies began under Ronald Reagan, and include such legislation as free income redistribution trade treaties. Obama has already signed three of these treaties into law knowing they would cost the 99 percent jobs, and the difference between the old higher wages here and the new lower wages there are going into the pockets of the 1 percent via higher corporate profits, rising dividends and surging share prices. Obama knows this. He isn’t stupid, like Charlie Brown. Now the Obama man is negotiating the biggest free income redistribution treaty in USA history, the Trans Pacific Partnership. This scam will redistribute even more income from the 99 to the 1 percent than Nafta. The Guardian calls it “Nafta on Steroids.”

Sure Republicans obstructed Obama’s agenda for the last four years, but Obama’s agenda included sucking the middle class dry and shifting their former income into the already fat wallets of the 1 percent. So he bears quite a bit of the responsibility for our slow economic recovery.

Obama also failed to recognize that the redistribution of income from the 99 to the 1 percent over the previous 26 years has stifled the demand for goods and services from the 99 percent because they earn less money than they used to. That stifles job growth and has lead to the anemic recovery. Not only that, Obama’s agenda has invigorated America’s economic slow motion collapse.

As for the 1 percent, they usually invest their money in things that destroy rather than create jobs, such as derivatives, buying politicians and legislation, and free income redistribution treaties.

Worse yet, the 1 percent now steal about 31 percent of all US income, compared to 8 percent 31 years ago. That means the 99 percent earn 69 percent compared to 92 percent in 1980.

That’s why President Jimmy Carter looks like such a genius compared to the president’s that have followed him. The deficit was historically small under his watch compared to when Obama, Bush and Reagan have been president, but 208,000 jobs a month were created under Carter, and with rising wage rates. That was with an economy with 60 percent of the GNP and population as we have today. It was because the 99 percent had way more money to spend then, making job growth far more robust compared with now. Obama knows this as surely as I do. But he dare not do much to alleviate the burdens of the middle class for fear of angering his corporate backers. Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden is very much the same as Obama, in this regard.

Read Full Post »

The US Trade Deficit: A Measurement of Income in the US Being Redistribributed from the 99 to the 1 Percent

Free trade treaties are gifts given to Wall Street and billionaires by US government officials, such as President George W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama and “Senator Wall Street fetch boy Ron Wyden.” The treaties allow US businesses to ship the jobs of US citizens overseas, and also allows them to create jobs overseas, which wouldn’t be possible without the treaties. When this occurs, the difference between the old and higher wages in the US and the new lower wages goes into the pockets of the billionaires that fund political campaigns and propaganda advertisements directed at the 99 percent. In other words, free trade treaties are an income redistribution scam from the 99 to the 1 percent. The 99 percent are the people that need jobs to support themselves.

When their jobs are shipped overseas so that their income can be redistributed to billionaires, they not only lose their livelihoods, which they would perform year are year, but the billionaires get the income of the 99 percent year after year. The result is the destruction of local and state tax bases that support state and local government services, such as fire, road repair, police and schools.

We hear from the corporate news media that “the United States has a trade deficit with China. China had a record trade surplus with the US in October of this year.” Of course that’s a half-truth, although it’s more likely an out and out lie. US corporations have shipped production to China during the last several years. The products shipped from China to the USA come with names such as Microsoft, Apple, Nike and many others. The US trade deficit is with US corporations, which are owned by billionaire investors. Therefore, the trade deficit is not between China and the US, but between the billionaire investors and the rest of the USA. In other words, the US trade deficit gives us a rough idea how massive the yearly redistribution of income and wealth is occuring every month between the billionaires and the 99 percent.

The 1 percent now steal about 29-31 percent of all US income, up from 23.5 percent in 2008, and about 8 percent thirty-two years ago. According to the US Census Bureau, the US had a trade deficit with all nations of less than $20 billion in 1980. In 2011, that deficit was nearly $560 billion. The growth of the US trade deficit and income redistribution has mirrowed each other. Think about it.

Related Article Below

Trade Deficit Dots Connect to Billionaires–truthout.org

Read Full Post »

The Trans Pacific Partnership; Obama’s War Against the Middle Class

On December 1, an historic cross border protest will take place. The action is taking place to protest against the Obama administration’s war against the middle class. On behalf of Wall Street and the faction of the 1 percent that Obama represents, such as the Crown brothers, the Obama gang is negotiating the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement that will redistribute more income and wealth from the 99 to the 1 percent.

When Obama took office the 1 percent received about 24 percent of all income produced in the USA, up from about 8 percent in 1980. After four years of Obama, the 1 percent now take 29-31 percent of all income. That means the 99 percent have gone from earning 92 percent of all income in 1980, to 76 percent in 2008, to 69 to 71 percent nowadays. That trend continues without the TPP, but the TPP will accelerate the destruction of the middle class and turn the US economy into a banana republic.

Click the link below for more on the protest.

Click here for more on the historic protest

Read Full Post »

It’s a First! Most unemployed Americans attended at least some college, for the first time ever

What will you achieve if you take out student loans, go to college, improve your skills and get ahead of your competition? For the first time in US history, you’ll most likely get a ton of student loan debt and join your competition in a place on a very long unemployment line. But the affluent will become richer, thanks to your debt. By the way, that’s something neither Republicans nor Democrats want you to know. Student loan debt is a scam to make you indentured servants for a very long time.

This is the new normal. Go to college, get heavily into debt, and become unemployed or underemployed. Blame free trade treaties. Those treaties are intended to redistribute income from the 99 to the 1 percent. Ship the jobs overseas, or negotiate a treaty that makes it easier to create jobs in lower wage countries. Pretty soon the jobs here dry up, and so does the tax base, resulting in government layoffs, such as police and teachers. Jobs gone. Just like that. But the difference between the old wages here and the new wages over there fly into the already fat wallets of the super rich, who then buy more politicians, such as Senator Ron Wyden, who then vote yes on more income redistribution treaties. That’s the whole game.

By the way, for every 68 or so blue collar jobs shipped away, or created overseas, another 32 jobs go overseas with them, and these are mostly white collar jobs that require a college degree. These include management, accountants, lawyers, bookkeepers, computer programmers, etc… Every one of these jobs shipped overseas has meant the loss of three other jobs in various local industries, many of which require college degrees.

This is why there are so many college educated people in the unemployment line.

Most unemployed Americans Attended at Least Some College

Read Full Post »

Police Remove Activists from Trans Pacific Free Income Redistribution Trade Party for Staging Fake Award Ceremony

The one percent has moved to have more middle class income redistributed to themselves via the Trans Pacific Free Redistributing Income Treaty currently being negotiated in Dallas, Texas. Some activists infiltrated an awards ceremony there and the film is below.

Two dozen rogue “delegates” disrupted the corporate-sponsored welcome gala for the high-stakes Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations yesterday with a fake award ceremony and “mic check.” Other activists, meanwhile, replaced hundreds of rolls of toilet paper (TP) throughout the conference venue with more informative versions, and projected a message on the venue’s facade.

The first action began when a smartly-dressed man approached the podium immediately after the gala’s keynote speech by Ron Kirk, U.S. Trade Representative and former mayor of Dallas. The man (local puppeteer David Goodwin) introduced himself as “Git Haversall,” president of the “Texas Corporate Power Partnership,” and announced he was giving Kirk and other U.S. trade negotiators the “2012 Corporate Power Tool Award,” which “Haversall’s” partner held aloft.

The crowd of negotiators and corporate representatives applauded, and “Haversall” continued: “I’d like to personally thank the negotiators for their relentless efforts. The TPP agreement is shaping up to be a fantastic way for us to maximize profits, regardless of what the public of this nation—or any other nation—thinks is right.”

At that point, the host of the reception took the microphone back and announced that the evening’s formal programming had concluded. But Mr. Haversall confidently re-took the microphone and warmly invited Kirk to accept the award.

Kirk moved towards the stage, but federal agents blocked his path to protect him from further embarrassment. At that point, a dozen well-dressed “delegates” (local activists, some from Occupy Dallas) broke into ecstatic dance and chanted “TPP! TPP! TPP!” for several minutes until Dallas police arrived.

Fifteen minutes later, another dozen interlopers from Occupy Dallas interrupted the reception with a spirited “mic-check.” Outside, activists projected a message on the hotel, and throughout the night, delegates discovered that hundreds of rolls of custom toilet paper had been installed in the conference venue.

The activists disrupted the gala to protest the hijacking of trade negotiations by an extreme pro-corporate agenda. “The public and the media are locked out of these meetings,” said Kristi Lara from Occupy Dallas, one of the infiltrators. “We can’t let U.S. trade officials get away with secretlylimiting Internet freedoms, restricting financial regulation, extending medicine patents, and giving corporations other a whole host of other powersallowing them to quash the rights of people and democracies, for example by offshoring jobs in ever new ways. Trade officials know the public won’t stand for this, which is why they try to keep their work secret—and that’s why we had to crash their party.”

There is mounting criticism of the U.S. role in pushing the negotiations forward in secrecy, despite the public’s overwhelming disagreement with TPP goals. (“Buy American” procurement preferences are supported by over 85% of Americans, but U.S. trade negotiators are preparing to accept a ban on such preferences. Two weeks ago, 69 members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama asking him not to accept that ban.)
Many are calling the Obama administration duplicitous: while the administration publicly hypes a plan to revitalize American manufacturing and create jobs in the U.S., U.S. trade officials push for new “investor rights” that would make it easier for American companies to lay off domestic workers and open plants overseas.

“The TPP has been branded as a trade ‘negotiation’ by its corporate proponents, but in reality it’s a place for big business to get its way behind closed doors,” said Pete Rokicki of Occupy Dallas. “This anti-democratic maneuver can be stopped if the public gets active—just look at the movement that killed the ill-advised SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) law a few months ago. That’s why Obama’s trade officials lock the public, the press and even members of Congress from the trade negotiation process.”

“We’re really happy to know that even in their most private moments, US trade reps are reminded that a vast majority of the public stands opposed to corporate-friendly, closed-door trade deals like the TPP,” said Sean Dagohoy from the Yes Lab, who assisted in the actions.

Read Full Post »

Boycott the Oregonian newspaper, A Propaganda Conduit of the One Percent

The Oregonian newspaper is the primary propaganda organ of the one percent in the state of Oregon. The newspaper reported today that the Beaverton School District is going to lay off 344 employees. The district is the third largest in the state. What is conspicuous is what the Oregonian chose not to mention; much of the tax base has been shipped overseas via free trade agreements. It’s true that most school funding in Oregon is derived from property taxes, but it’s equally true that if thousands of jobs have been shipped overseas because of free trade agreements, the people who lose those jobs can’t usually afford a house, or their property taxes. Just look at your country. Where is the housing market going? Down. That’s where.

The same thing occurs when an American based company decides to create jobs overseas, rather than here, when free trade agreements open the door to do so. The people that lose their jobs may get unemployment checks and a foreclosed house.

The Oregonian also doesn’t mention that the difference between the old higher wages here, and the new lower wages there, are pocketed by the one percent via higher corporate profits, enhanced dividends and rising share prices. That’s why the free trade agreements are an income redistribution scam. But the Oregonian staff doesn’t want you to know that. The exact same thing holds true when jobs are created overseas by US companies that normally wouldn’t occur without the free trade agreements.

The Oregonian also hides the fact that they endorse politicians such as Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Senator Ron Wall Street Wyden. Wyden has never met an income distribution trade treaty that he hasn’t liked, because his buddies at the Oregonian and on Wall Street like them. Blumenauer votes for most of them.

Apparently, the folks at the Oregonian think the sole purpose of the US economy is to enrich the one percent at the expense of everybody else. The Oregonian is the Fox News of Oregon. It is the propaganda wing of the one percent in the state. Save yourselves, your school districts, your police and other public services. Save your jobs, save your neighbors. Put the Oregonian out of business by not buying it. Boycott!

Related Stories

Beaverton School District to Lay off 344

Why Are Teacher Cut Backs Coming? Blame Free Trade Agreements

Read Full Post »