Must-Read: Matthew Yglesias: Obama’s Real Problem on Trade Is Way Bigger than Elizabeth Warren
Must-Read: The real problem that Barack Obama has with the Trans-Pacific Partnership is that the intellectual property interests–Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and Pharma–are for it only to the extent that it strengthens their property rights, that the Democratic caucus is against it unless it contains meaningful steps to reduce inequality and increase positive-sum regulatory oversight, and that the Republican caucus is against it if it contains meaningful steps to reduce inequality and increase positive-sum regulatory oversight. Thus from a perspective that is technocrat-utilitarian, legislative-process, and coalition-assembly oriented, the obvious path is to appoint a senior free-trade Republican–a Romney figure–to negotiate TPP, and then to withhold presidential approval of its implementing legislation unless inequality-reducing Democratic legislative priorities are attached to the bill. Yet, once again, this kind of Legislative Process 101 move–to make the situation not “I’m in here with you” but “you’re in here with me”–was not undertaken by the Obama White House…
: Obama’s Real Problem on Trade Is Way Bigger than Elizabeth Warren: “The coalition against TPP is very broad…
…The Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council both say the deal would be bad for the environment. Doctors Without Borders says it’s bad for global public health. The AIDS research group amFAR agrees. Consumers Union says it will raise prescription drug prices. The Electronic Frontier Foundation says TPP ‘raises significant concerns about citizens’ freedom of expression, due process, innovation, the future of the Internet’s global infrastructure, and the right of sovereign nations to develop policies and laws that best meet their domestic priorities.’ The Alliance for Justice… released a letter signed by 100 legal scholars arguing against Investor State Dispute Settlement provisions. When Vox asked a development expert if TPP’s opening of US markets to more imports from Vietnam would help fight global poverty, she told us no.