Democrats Bow down to Wall Street - Bill Moyers & Company

[Bill USA]

...corporate 'Democrats', TPP and hollowing out the Middle Class. Another great show, interviewing John MacArthur publisher of Atlantic Magazine.

Video and transcript....

http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-democrats-bow-wall-street/

BILL MOYERS: Yeah. You say if he wins the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he'll be giving away big chunks of our remaining manufacturing base to Japan and Vietnam and other Pacific Rim countries. Why does he want to do that?

JOHN R. MACARTHUR: Because he's the fundraiser in chief. And again, this goes back to Bill Clinton. Because Obama's really just imitating Bill Clinton. Clinton made an alliance with the Daley machine in Chicago, which Obama, he's inherited that alliance with the two Daley brothers. The people who were thriving are the people in power. Rahm Emanuel is now mayor of Chicago. Bill Daley and Rahm Emanuel were the chief lobbyists for passing NAFTA under Clinton. They're the ones who rounded up the votes. They're the ones who made the deals with the recalcitrant Democrats and Republicans who didn't want to vote for it. These people are in the saddle. They succeeded each other as--

BILL MOYERS: They're Democrats, too.

JOHN R. MACARTHUR: Democrats. But Daley succeeded Rahm Emanuel as Obama's chief of staff. These are the people Obama talks to all the time. And they're saying, free trade, great. We don't know about factories closing. But it's a great way to raise money.
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Obama Is Still Pushing Two Giant Trade Deals — Here’s What You Need to Know

Last week, Barack Obama called once again for establishing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a mega-deal regulating trade in 12 countries that account for about 40 percent of the world’s economic activity. The deal has been in the works for almost a decade.

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Why are we talking about this now?

In addition to President Obama’s comments that he had made “good progress” discussing the deal with other leaders at the Asia-Pacific Summit last week, many observers believe that these trade agreements, especially the TPP, represent one area where the new Republican-controlled Congress and the White House can find common ground. And, as American University scholar James Thurber told NBC News, “the president believes that a trade deal will define his legacy.”

But there’s reason to be skeptical that a deal is possible. A complex treaty is impossible to negotiate without Congress giving the president “fast-track” trade authority. Fast-track strips Congress’s ability to amend any agreement the president makes with other countries — they would only be able to vote yea or nay.

Whereas there was once a solid, bipartisan consensus in favor of these kinds of trade deals, it has since fallen apart. According to Public Citizen, only eight House Democrats are on record as favoring fast-track. On the other side of the aisle, as I noted in January, the tea party wing of the Republican Party has dubbed the TPP “Obamatrade,” and is warning, in the words of one “analyst” on the Tea Party News Network, that TPP is a “weapon aimed straight at our Constitution, straight at our sovereignty and straight at Christians around the world.”
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[Jefferson23]

1. Highly recommend. n/t

[colsohlibgal]

2. Oh It Would Help Define His Legacy Alright

Not in a good way though, but as Third Way "Democratic" president number 2. The selling point that we're not quite as bad as the other party is wearing quite thin. As is calling themselves liberal because they are socially liberal. That's great but we need real liberal populists, not neo democrats.

[jakeXT]

3. web extra

http://vimeo.com/114383064

[Populist_Prole]

4. Don't yell at me, but

This is the only instance where I want the president to fail. This is just wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. The fact that the GOP agrees with him should tell you something.

I like this trojan horse: the tea party wing of the Republican Party has dubbed the TPP “Obamatrade,”

If that's what it takes to kill TPP, that's OK with me.