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Wednesday, January 14, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I N I O
N
Robert B.
Reich
American Voices
Letters to the Editor…
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To the Editor:
When The Nugget editorialized against
city planner Eric Porter’s unilateral approval
of food carts at Eurosports, it used the phrase
“beggars belief”; that same phrase came to
mind when I read planning commissioner Alan
Holzman’s defense of Porter’s action.
In addition to claiming that a planning
commission review of Porter’s action wasn’t
necessary, he goes on to state that the applica-
tion completely and totally follows city code.
Contrast this with information from Mike
Morgan to the city councilors and planning
commissioners showing how the application
is in significant conflict with several areas of
city code.
Should Mr. Morgan’s analysis be upheld,
Mr. Holzman (should) resign his position on
the planning commission.
Ray Kenny
s
s
s
To the Editor:
Sen. Ron Wyden — The law that autho-
rized the Land and Water Conservation Fund
(LWCF) 50 years ago is set to expire by
September 30, 2015, unless Congress takes
affirmative action before then. We applaud
your support for S.338, authorizing the renewal
and full funding of this important program, as
it provides invaluable financial resources for
state parks and local recreational facilities. A
few examples of the important projects slated
for our immediate area are improvements to
Tumalo State Park, the Village Green Park in
Sisters, and the Crooked River Wetlands Park
in Prineville. These are the types of projects
that clearly enhance the quality of life for
See leTTerS on page 23
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Republicans, who now
run Congress, say they want
to cooperate with Presi-
dent Obama and point to
the administration’s Trans-
Pacific Partnership, or TPP,
as the model. The only prob-
lem is that the TPP would be
a disaster.
If you haven’t heard much
about the TPP, that’s part of
the problem right there. It
would be the largest trade
deal in history — involving
countries stretching from
Chile to Japan, represent-
ing 792 million people and
accounting for 40 percent of
the world economy — yet
it’s been devised in secret.
Lobbyists from America’s
biggest corporations and
Wall Street’s biggest banks
have been involved but not
the American public. That’s
a recipe for fatter profits and
bigger paychecks at the top,
but not a good deal for most
of us.
We used to think about
trade policy as a choice
between “free trade” and
“protectionism.” Free trade
meant opening our borders
to products made elsewhere.
Protectionism meant putting
up tariffs and quotas to keep
them out.
In the decades after World
War II, America chose free
trade. The idea was that each
country would specialize in
goods it produced best and
at least cost. That way, liv-
ing standards would rise here
and abroad. New jobs would
be created to take the place of
jobs that were lost. And com-
munism would be contained.
For three decades, free
trade worked. It was a
win-win-win.
But in more recent
decades the choice has
become far more compli-
cated and the payoff from
trade agreements more
skewed to those at the top.
Tariffs are already low.
Negotiations now involve
such things as intellectual
property, financial regula-
tions, labor laws, and rules
for health, safety and the
environment.
It’s no longer free trade
versus protectionism. Big
corporations and Wall Street
want some of both.
They want more inter-
national protection when it
comes to their intellectual
property and other assets. So
they’ve been seeking trade
rules that secure and extend
their patents, trademarks and
copyrights abroad.
But they want less protec-
tion of consumers, workers,
small investors and the envi-
ronment, because these inter-
fere with their profits. So
they’ve been seeking trade
rules that allow them to over-
ride these protections.
Not surprisingly for a deal
that’s been drafted mostly by
corporate and Wall Street
lobbyists, the TPP provides
exactly this mix.
What’s been leaked about
it so far reveals, for exam-
ple, that the pharmaceutical
industry gets stronger pat-
ent protections, delaying
cheaper generic versions of
drugs. That will be a good
deal for Big Pharma but not
necessarily for the inhabit-
ants of developing nations
who won’t get certain life-
saving drugs at a cost they
can afford.
The TPP also gives global
corporations an international
tribunal of private attorneys,
outside any nation’s legal
system, who can order com-
pensation for any “unjust
expropriation” of foreign
assets. The tribunal can order
compensation for any lost
profits found to result from a
nation’s regulations.
Anyone believing the TPP
is good for Americans, take
note: The foreign subsidiaries
of U.S.-based corporations
could just as easily challenge
any U.S. government regu-
lation they claim unfairly
diminishes their profits —
say, a regulation protecting
American consumers from
unsafe products or unhealthy
foods, investors from fraudu-
lent securities or predatory
lending, or the environment
from toxic emissions.
The administration says
the trade deal will boost U.S.
exports in the fast-growing
Pacific Basin, where the
United States faces growing
economic competition from
China.
Fine. But the deal will
also allow American cor-
porations to outsource even
more jobs abroad.
The TPP is a Trojan horse
in a global race to the bot-
tom, giving big corporations
and Wall Street banks a way
to eliminate any and all laws
and regulations that get in the
way of their profits.
© 2015 By Robert Reich;
Distributed by Tribune Con-
tent Agency, LLC
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.