[ David Dayen| August 30, 2016 | Alternet] A secretive super-court system called ISDS is threatening to blow up President Barack Obama’s highest foreign policy priority. Investor-state dispute settlement — an integral part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal — allows companies to sue entire countries for costing them money when laws or regulations change.…
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[ September 06, 2016 | Democracy Now] At the G20 summit, President Obama also tried to assure Asian nations that the United States would, in fact, ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite mounting opposition. President Barack Obama: “On the merits, it is smart for America to do it. And I have yet to hear a persuasive…
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[ Adam Behsudi| September 07, 2016 | Politico] The list of groups coming out against the TPP as it currently stands continues to get longer, with two new organizations — Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America — writing letters to Congress on Tuesday urging lawmakers to state their opposition to the deal. Consumers Union is…
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[ Dean Baker| August 29, 2016 | TruthOut] The latest line from proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) implies that President Obama threatened long-standing national security relationships in his negotiating of the TPP. These proponents are not pushing the economic merits of the TPP, but rather arguing that its rejection by Congress would jeopardize longstanding…
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[ Robert Scott| September 02, 2016 | EPI] Today’s Jobs Report from the BLS showed that the U.S. manufacturing sector lost 14,000 jobs in August and has now lost 57,000 jobs since January of this year. This job loss is, in part, a consequence of the sharp rise of the dollar in 2014 and 2015, which has…
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Very few people are aware of the system known as the ISDS, the existence of which threatens the very principle of national sovereignty – and even Democracy itself. The acronym stand for Investor-State Dispute Settlement, and it is part of every bad free trade deal passed since the 1990s. It is at the heart of the…
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[ Sylvan Lane| September 01, 2016 | The Hill] The president of the nation’s most powerful labor organization said Thursday that Hillary Clinton would be more receptive to workers’ needs as president than President Obama has been. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that Obama has been “a good president for working people” and praised his selection of…
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In the heart of Amish country, hat makers are maintaining a century-old business. [ CONNIE KARGBO, CHRISTOPHER BOOKER and CORINNE SEGAL| August 27, 2016 | PBS] The Bollman Hat Company, located in the small town of Adamstown, Pennsylvania, is America’s oldest hat maker, having survived since 1868. At the time, the machines used to produce the hats were powered by…
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Two presidential candidates oppose it. So does much of the American public. But President Barack Obama, having staked much of his foreign policy credibility on a “pivot to Asia,” shows all the signs of wanting to push a major trade deal through Congress after the November elections. [ Inside Sources | August 31, 2016 |…
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The reports of the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s death have been greatly exaggerated, unfortunately. [ Lori Wallach| August 31, 2016 | Huffington Post] It would great news if the pact, which would mean more power for corporations over our lives and government, and fewer good jobs for Americans, were ready to be boxed and buried. But more…
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