The Latest on Free Trade and the TPP

[BelgianMadCow]

24. TTIP & TPP : "Rough Trade: Corporations Screw Democracy Behind Locked Doors"

From Progressive.org:

Both NAFTA and TPP/TTIP contain language regarding investor-state disputes which gives corporations the legal authority to sue the hell out of any government that may be cutting into its bottom line with regulatory nuisances. Even if the corporation’s lawsuit is doomed to fail, the sheer litigiousness of the “aggrieved” is frightening enough to lawmakers, making it likely that a mere threat would be enough to force government concessions to avoid a protracted and expensive legal battle.

Amazingly, this is based on the very same legal strategy the railroads used to exploit the language of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment to become legal “persons.” Only, the investor-state lawsuits aren't brought to national courts; they're arbitrated by a small, secretive tribunal of judges not bound by domestic law.

It’s almost funny how America's small government, weak regulation tea party set supposedly stay awake at night worrying that an otherwise toothless United Nations may be forming an oppressive global government. And by almost funny, I mean incredibly stupid.

This thread is also for TTIP, right? I fear with the relative furor over TPP the TTIP might fly under the radar.