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The problem with TPP and TTIP is that they are written for big business and with little else in mind.
Adapting such treaties for the benefit of the electorate rather than the shareholder/hedge fund backer (or even to balance the see-saw) would require a long and detailed picking apart of the entire document.
Much easier to start from scratch, I think and much less likely to have the odd 'nasty' clause slipped through.
Clearly I'm not familiar with the particulars MrWitch. Thank you for your helpful answer m'dear! :)
It's the reason there's so much talk in the US about disadvantageous trade deals Rosie. The trade deals actually work very well for the US, but only for that portion of the US (ie, big business) they are written for.
For US citizens the result that has been mentioned most is the moving of jobs abroad. Other national signatories will see some of this as well, but also will point out that the rules of these trade deals provide huge advantages both commercially and legally to private industries.
This may sound good, until you attempt to mix the US economic and legal system with how other places have chosen to run themselves. They are all too often not really compatible. The result is that while US citizens watch the jobs (and some of the money) going abroad, other nations watch the potential dismantling of state funded industries at massive cost both monetarily and otherwise.
The old tropes about business being the foundation of human life is no longer true - or at least if it is, it's time to reign in what has far too often become a predatory and parasitic relationship between society and the businesses it supports.
Seneca sums it up nicely, from two thousand years ago: '
"It is the constant fault and inseparable evil quality of ambition, that it never looks behind it."
Businesses once they grow beyond a certain size have only one legal duty, to grow bigger. Obviously they must abide by other laws, but that's the main one, and everything else will inevitably bow to it. So if you have a chance to increase your advantage, your share price, etc, you take it - regardless of the damage it may do elsewhere or at home, because the only thing that counts is the bottom line.
We've created a tremendously short-sighted society, some business elements of which damage the whole and the individual in order to provide often short term benefits for themselves and (some of) their workers.
((hugs)) That's for once again taking time to educate me. Wow. I don't know what to say MrWitch. The cards are really stacked against we the people aren't they? Thank you for your thoughtful, helpful and very easy to understand explanation of the problems attendant to TTP and TTIP. Here 's the really really sad part for me..."Businesses once they grow beyond a certain size have only one legal duty, to grow bigger" . That says it all. Dam* everything and everyone who gets in the way of that. They are expendable and irrelevant. How do you fight that?(:
It would be easy(ish) to add to the legal duties specific to business Rosie. In some instances this has already been done (energy firms being responsible for reducing their carbon emissions for example). The reason it hasn't been done (similar to the reason tax systems aren't simplified) is that large sums of money or favours and politics go together like an alcoholic and a bottle of whiskey. They may think it's good for them, but really it's not, and by extension it's bad for the citizenry too.
One of the largest problems small firms face is excess regulation. While this is a predictable whine from some sources and produces some frankly bonkers arguments, it does happen to have relevance in many cases. It's a result of politicians being lazy and ignorant and refusing to think outside the 'one size can fit all' delusion. I'm not talking here about silly stuff like who you choose to serve as a business, but rather significant issues like staffing, working hours, leave entitlement, etc. While larger business find no difficulty in following these, there is no recognition that small firms may struggle; they've been left to do just that.
And rather slowly, politics is somewhat waking up to the fact that much of our wealth - and more importantly 'sustainable' wealth, comes from these small firms. The Big Boys look good on paper - very good sometimes - but the cat is out of the bag that they usually (and legally) don't pay their way. If a politician had said, "Large Firm PLC profits are up hugely!" 30 years ago the result would be blithe public acceptance, plus a few more votes. Do that same speech today and someone will throw something at you. The old platitudes, the old economic and political scenery that politicians have got used to hiding behind for over three decades are looking very old and tired.
We are undoubtedly seeing the effect of the internet and the speedy distribution of information. Nobody is supposed to know anything about the terms of TTIP, the negotiations for which have been conducted in secret. Yet we know a huge amount, because someone leaked information (risking their job and possibility their liberty) and within 24 hours it had gone worldwide.
Politicians, whose power to influence has always been rooted in what we don't know, now have less and less to work with. Hopefully that will continue. :)
Thank you for this very informative and VERY helpful reply MrWitch. Honesty I have never paid any attention to the whining about excessive regulation. But you just explained WHY some small businesses might be burdened by some of them. I always thought it was because business owners were just greedy and wanted to be left alone to do whatever they wanted to do just to make more money. I did not realize some of the problems small business owners might have with these rules/regs. So thank you for that. In other words as Old School is constantly reminding me "it's complicated". Happy Sunday! :)
