My heart reaaly goes out to this President. I listened to NPR tonight on the way home. After a day

[phleshdef]

31. Christ, I think the TPP is turning into the left version of Benghazi around here.

You know, I don't quite understand all the intricacies of trade deals. I know a little bit about the reasons that NAFTA is bad. But I'm by no means an expert in that area. Its just not one of my top issues. So admittedly I should probably learn more about it.

But what I do know, is that trade deals are not the cause of our economic woes and inability to ensure a standard quality of life for everyone. From the most liberal to the most conservative estimates of job loss do to NAFTA, its nothing compared to the jobs we would gain if we just functioned like a rational society and maintained a tax code that made sense and invested in large scale national projects that make sense.

All I know about the TPP is that most of the countries included in it, we already have trade deals with and that only a few of the countries included that we don't have trade deals with are the type of country that offshoring corporations would prey upon and those few countries aren't all that large in terms of population. I also know that it includes Japan, which already pays decent wages. So you know, maybe the notion that it increases US exports has some merit. I've read that it already has clauses in it that says it is beholden to international standards on environmental protections and labor standards, but until we actually see the whole thing, we won't know that. And that's the most valid criticism of the whole thing, the secrecy behind it.

Regardless, I just feel like the controversy around it is overblown, especially in comparison to the bigger issues with a dysfunctional legislative branch that can't even get the traditionally ordinary business of Congress taken care of without intentionally breaking something.