Excerpts from a Conversation re the TPP

YVES SMITH: So really, it's a mistake to call it a trade agreement. This is really an agreement that's purpose is substantially to weaken nation-based regulation while at the same time strengthening intellectual property protections. So it's basically a gimme to companies on both ends. 

BILL MOYERS: Well, if there is so much secrecy, how do we know what we don't know, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld? 
DEAN BAKER: Well I mean there have been some leaks from people involved in the process, so there have been bits and pieces that have come out. But it's very difficult to really know what is in there. They give limited access to members of Congress. And this, again, you know, Yves was making comment about that. You know, this really, to my mind, is quite a scandal. 

BILL MOYERS: But this is the paradox to me, I mean, as you've just said, stronger copyright and patent protection is the very opposite of free trade. They involve government interference and intervention in the market. They restrict competition. They lead, as you've just said, to higher prices for consumers. How can you describe this as a free-trade agreement? 

BILL MOYERS: What is your greatest concern about this? 
YVES SMITH: I think the drugs one is my biggest one. And the second one, frankly, is financial services. Because this would also basically make a lot of financial services regulation that we now have pretty much impossible. It would force-- 

YVES SMITH: The first language in both these deals goes something along the lines with, "All signatories are required to make their laws and regulations conform to the standards of this agreement." They are literally required to make their nation-based laws subordinate to the terms of these agreements. And again, we don't know exactly what's in them. But the whole notion is that they are to permit very liberalized capital flows and minimal restrictions. So like, Dodd-Frank basically is inconsistent with that. 

BILL MOYERS: What do you suppose is the influence on President Obama that caused him to reverse course on NAFTA and not fulfill what was a campaign pledge? 
DEAN BAKER: Well, I think it's the nature of politics in the United States. I mean, it's not a secret. You know, you have very powerful politically, economically-- people who, you know, are pushing for this. And you know, we saw this with Wall Street, you know, when President Obama first came into office. You know, at that point, you know, Wall Street is on its back, meaning the financial industry. And basically President Obama had it in his ability to break up the big banks, totally restructure finance, he decided not to go that route. And his top advisors, well Robert Rubin, played an enormous role, you know, as the top executive at Citigroup and formerly Goldman Sachs. He was not going to go that route because these are the people he was listening to. And I think that's continued to be the pattern throughout his administration, that's he's listening to people with a corporate interest, he was just talking about there. Those are the people who are steering the policy. 
YVES SMITH: I mean, I'd go a little bit further than Dean on that. In that when you look at Obama's record of his campaign promises versus what he's actually done, there's sort of a normal, acceptable level of political lying, and Obama has gone way past what is historically the normal in terms of, you know, politician fudging and then doing something else when they've been in office. This is just another example.

BILL MOYERS: You both keep saying they don't talk about this crucial issue, they don't talk about that crucial issue. They don't take this stand and speak the truth to us. What's going on?
YVES SMITH: Well, I wrote something in 2010. I said that Obama believes that the response to any policy problem is better propaganda. And unfortunately, I think this was an illustration of that phenomenon.
BILL MOYERS: But is it better propaganda to be silent when people can't get jobs that job growth is down, we need to spend money, and they're not doing it.
YVES SMITH: He won in 2012, even with a terrible economy. So it didn't, you know, it didn't seem to-- running bad policies didn't seem to prevent him from getting reelected.