Supporters
of a job-killing global pact are peddling hokey numbers and neon lies.
By
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| Fast Tracking the TPP, an OtherWords cartoon by Khalil Bendib |
Come one, come all. Step right up and buy your ticket for a ride
on the splendiferous, phantasmagoric, and miraculous Trans-Pacific Partnership!
The TPP isn’t some sort of futuristic flying machine. It’s just
another global trade scam coming at us like a volcanic eruption straight out of
hell.
This thing is a “partnership” of, by, and for global
corporations — similar to NAFTA, only much, much bigger and far more
destructive both to the middle class and to our people’s sovereignty.
After hammering out backroom deals in strict secrecy over the
past seven years, a cabal of White House negotiators and corporate lobbyists
are now ready to spring it on us. And its backers intend to ram it into law
before We the People can get a whiff of its anti-democratic stench.
Indeed, to perfume it, they’ve already begun a PR campaign
touting the TPP as a long-sought wonder cure for America’s downtrodden working
class.
Wow… really?
No.
Glenn Kessler, who writes The
Washington Post‘s “Fact-Checker” column, dug into that number in January.
He found that it was incorrect, misleading, and silly. In fact, he wrote, “The correct number is zero.”
He also pointed out that even if 650,000 jobs were created,
that’s not even a drop in the bucket. It would increase U.S. employment by less
than one-half of 1 percent.
Be alert, friends, for the TPP gang wants to dazzle us with
hokey numbers and neon lies. Meanwhile, they’re stealing our democratic rights
and turning our future over to global corporations. To get information and get
involved, go to www.citizen.org/trade.
OtherWords
columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker.
He’s also editor of the populist newsletter, The
Hightower Lowdown. OtherWords.org.