IT'S FAIR MARKETS NOT FAIR TRADE

On both sides of the aisle there are supporters for the TPA Trade Promotion Authority (Fast track) and the TPP Trans Pacific  Partnership that has Americans confused. Especially given the dysfunction of our current political logjam it is curious to see unlikely bedfellows so cozy and comfortable on this trade issue and worse to have conservatives secretly applauding Pelosi.

The TPP or trade deal has Australia, Brunei, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chili, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and the United States in a trade partnership but is it a good deal or a negative deal for Americans? We don't know and that's the biggest problem.

There seems to be four realities to global trade deals, one, is that all parties invariable cheat or ignore the terms of the deal. Two, America is always left in a trade deficit in which much more foreign product is imported and less American product is sold in foreign markets usually thru currency manipulation. Three, there is never any effective or realistic arbiter to enforce that all parties stick to the deal. Last but not least corporations and K Street benefit far more than America's main street. Why? Because our market is political corrupt and not a free market anymore.

The problem with this latest deal is that the President has been pushing for TPA or Trade Promotion Authority. In essence if TPA were passed it would give the President the ability to present to Congress a trade bill like TPP and ask for a straight up or down vote while not allowing for amendments or changes by our legislative process. 

Congress would be ceding its power to amend, re-write and fix trade deals by handing its power to the executive branch. It would give the President the ability to broker bad deals and then affront Congress with the, hard place and a rock choice, of dammed if you do dammed if your don't, by passing a bad deal or seeing China step in and take our place. 

This Trans Pacific Partnership deal has been euphemized as "Obamatrade" because America's level of government distrust is at an all time high given the amount disingenuousness emanating from the White House. Furthering the suspicions of the American people is the hushed secrecy of the deal coupled with a President and Congress that has failed to explain the terms of this trade alliance to the American people. 

It therefore appears to be just as onerous a treaty, as Obamacare was as a Bill, where an expansive law was passed before anyone read the provisions, especially the ones in the ACA that ceding legislative authority to the bureaucracy of the Health and Human Services Secretary to make up and write regulations as wanted or needed. If this trade deal is so important, and ensures American products are treated fairly in these countries markets, why the secrecy? 

Free trade is a fact of life today and unless and until there is wide scale global recession or depression (not outside the realm of potential) like it or not American products must compete on the world stage. Being against this treaty or any trade agreement is not about being an economic protectionists or an isolationists but rather a realist. 

We know that in past free trade agreements some countries purposefully make American imports so economically unviable that soon there develops a big deficit in which a country's imports to our nation's consumers far exceeds our exports to their consumers. We complain, but do little to alter a growing deficit. It therefore is imperative to have a strong rules and an equally strong referee to ensure fairness in trade.

However, the imports and exports of products is only one aspect of trade agreements and some say even a phony issue, since free markets always contain ebbs and flows depending on consumer demand. The truth is that there is never a real parity ratio between trading partners within the normal free market of ups and downs or supply and demand, termed differently in trade as imports and exports or expanding trade markets and deficits.  

What real Americans worry about is job loss. That worry is not unfounded because corporate America has been just as underhanded and untrustworthy as the current Administration. The fact that corporate lobbyists are pushing hard for TPP raises suspicions with the American people. They also pushed hard for comprehensive immigration reform claiming America's education system was not providing qualified workers. Leaving people to wonder why they continued to donate to liberals that have ruined our education system.

America's corporate taxes and regulations are at an all time high under the micro management of progressive socialists that have strangled our once free enterprise marketplace, and worsened our current crony capital mixed market by continuing to move it into a state controlled market or (communism). 

Yet, how have the corporations responded to increased federal control? Have they lobbied to return us to a free enterprise marketplace? Have they supported free enterprise candidates to Congress? Have they campaigned against social progressive candidates? Have they refused to participate with Obama agenda? Have they lobbied Congress to decrease regulations so they could hire more American workers? Or have they participated and even furthered government involvement to benefit themselves in a selfish oligarchy scheme?  

We know that the big health insurers not only backed Obamacare they wrote the legislation. Why? To reduce the competition and rake in more profits.  The reason social progressive have become the party of big business is that they understand it is easier to control a few major players than to corral thousands of independent business owners.

Corporate America and K Street are in bed with both political parties for their own profit interest, period. If they can open up new plants in Vietnam or Chile and take advantage of low wages and low benefits while reaping greater profits, does anyone think they won't take advantage?

Democrats are fond of fooling their voters by saying they are the party of the people, the little people, not big business like oil companies, but is anyone buying that lie today? It is plain and obvious that both parties are in the deep pockets of corporate and K street donations. 

Both political parties are fooling Americans when they claim to be pro business when really they just want to continue to line their own pockets with wealth and a cash cow to tap for funds from an outrageously growing world of political campaign spending. 

If the GOP in Congress were to get back to their real party platform, of being pro free marketers rather than corporate shills, they will need to support not just lowered corporate tax rates but fair regulations for large and small business, fair and free market trade competition both home and abroad. They should be considering serious slashing of federal agencies along with auditing the fed and returning America to a wealth rather than debt based economy. 

If Americans believed that our government was on the road to restoring our free markets and once again becoming an asset based economic power, ridding us of the handicaps place on us by social progressive micro regulatory rules, then we would confidently be in support of any and all global trade deals. America has never been afraid of competition. Get off our backs and bring it on and we'll do just fine.