How bad is the TPPA? Read this now!

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How bad is the TPPA?

Really, really, really bad. Watch this now

WikiLeaks – The US strategy to create a new global legal and economic system: TPP, TTIP, TISA

We have been conned into agreeing to this madness. This is a geopolitical war it isn’t a bloody trade agreement and our media have utterly ignored this dimension to the TPPA.

This isn’t a gold standard deal, it’s a gold plated deal. Groser and Key have come back after selling our cow at the free market with 3 magic TPPA beans.

The winners here are corporations and the people have lost.

As Gordon Campbell brilliantly puts it, If the TPP was the Rugby World Cup, the New Zealand team probably wouldn’t be making it out of pool play...

If the TPP was the Rugby World Cup, the New Zealand team probably wouldn’t be making it out of pool play. While the final details will not emerge for a month, the TPP is offering disappointing returns for New Zealand… and over a very long phase-in period… of up to 25 years in major areas important to us, even though many of the concessions we have made would take immediate effect. Typically, Prime Minister John Key has already been spinning the “93% tariff free” outcome across the TPP region, as if that situation was entirely due to the TPP deal. To get that figure, Key is adding all pre-existing tariff reductions and adding them to the TPP. To take a relevant example… 80% of US trade with other TPP members is already duty free.

Yes, the TPP has helped to knock a few points off the tariffs facing our exporters. Yet some of those alleged dollar gains may well have been made regardless over time – and without the negative baggage of the concessions in the non-trade areas (intellectual property, copyright extensions, investor-state dispute mechanisms etc) that the TPP deal also brings in its wake. The annual dollar returns being trumpeted by TPP advocates should be being treated with a few handfuls of salt. It will be a further month before the details are translated and legalled (and while corporations and the parliaments of member countries are fully briefed) before the contents are finally opened up to public scrutiny. Over the period from now until 2030, even the rosier projections for New Zealand see the TPP adding only about 1% per annum to this country’s GDP.

In the meantime, we have got the general gist. On our biggest export commodity – dairy milk powder – we have achieved almost zero extra advantage in the Japanese, US or Canadian markets. As Trade Minister Tim Groser confirmed on RNZ this morning, there will be a 25 year phase-in for the whole milk powder access we’ve “won” to the US market. Any small market opening by Canada – and this has been mainly in liquid milk and yoghurt – will almost certainly accrue to US dairy producers. Over the final phase of the dairy negotiations we actually lost ground – as the US buckled to the pressure from its own dairy producers, and as Canada failed to bail out the Americans by making any significant changes to its own system of dairy supply management.

If our new corporate overlords can challenge any domestic law under TPPA – is voting now a pointless token autonomy? We have lost the very political and economic sovereignty that we waged wars to keep.

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This is how the TPPA has been negotiated…

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…and no amount of wall to wall proTPPA propaganda on the mainstream media this morning can dent the reality of what we’ve allowed Key to sign away here.

Mass surveillance, the killing off of critical media, inequality, beneficiary bashing, privatisation of social services, union weakening, corporate welfare  and the ability of foreign corporations to dictate our domestic law – this is the reality of 3 terms of a National Party painted as moderate by the media.

The middle classes are no longer sleepy hobbits, they are hobbits a coma from which there is no waking thanks to the property bubble. They will accept anything as long as their illusion of wealth continues to grow.

We have been betrayed and sold down the river by this Government.

47 COMMENTS

  1. The tobacco industry has been banned from suing any country who refuse to deal with them,thats a plus.I think.!

  2. Great day for NZ. From the first reports it sounds like a real positive outcome for us as a country. Helping exporters access larger markets with little to no tariffs. Economy is really going to flourish

    • Don’t know about for you, but the “flourishing rockstar economy” has actually seen less real wealth and higher cost of living for most NZers. I’m sure it benefits our political and economic system, the way it is structured and measured – but for real people? More pain, and less democracy to change it.

    • Really ???

      Twelve hours since this very bad deal was concluded and you have come to this conclusion.
      You have absolutely no knowledge of what this deal will bring, apart from political propaganda.

      This is going to be very interesting indeed for the Politicians involved I would suggest.

    • @ RYAN SIMPSON – so what you are saying is our economy will be going from rockstar to that of a super rockstar economy.

      Ha ha, yeah right!

      Just another opportunity for FJK and his greedy, corrupt cronies to screw the country even more than before, with the help of his US domiciled buddies calling the shots, only this time, holding a gun to our heads!

      While at the same time, Blinglish can’t even balance the books!

    • Ryan, you must be part of the National Party’s team of people who attempt to sway public opinion by operating on social media – you might need to work a bit harder at this blog than that if you want to change anyone’s mind.

    • That’s what “first reports” are supposed to do: make it sound good. Then later, when we see the detail, it’s old news and no one is listening. It’s a proven effective strategy – over and over and over.

    • On the one hand we export milk products to lactose intolerant populations. On the other hand we will export products to economies who’s medium incomes have been falling 3% per year for the last thirty years.

      We just sold our soul to the devil. We are getting fucked over royally.

      The TPP won’t cut government and private debt. It will make it worse.

      Worst of all it will further destroy asset prices and the income generated from assets will never be enough to pay down debt.

    • That’s how most trade agreements are negotiated. The China FTA has delivered huge benefits to NZ, and was essentially negotiated in secret. It’s just the way these things work.

      • Talk about trotting out the party line. Haven’t you been paying attention? Secrecy is not acceptable in this process. Not even a little bit.

    • And now that it’s been agreed on, why is it still so secret? And no, I don’t buy into the rubbish about it taking a while to figure out what people have actually agreed on. They know what they agreed on, just publish it already.

        • NZ Gov’t Brief of TPP agreements TPP (Toilet Paper Protocol)

          US, Jaapan, Canada keep all their diary protections and NZ is not allowed to increase their exports to these countries due to “Financial considerations” WTF!!!!

          Prtectionism is in this crooked deal that we had grocer sign us away rto and now anyone oversease can buy NZ up without us having such a clause in ur own land sensitive policies???? Farming, horticulture, Coastal property and scenery ect”?????

  3. Spot on, Martyn.
    The US dollar is flat on its face and the only thing keeping it up are the blow hard bankers. This is a takeover of our land and our assets. If we didn’t take notice of the study by the Swiss Fed Institute of Tech:
    https://occupycorporatism.com/swiss-study-shows-147-technocratic-super-entities-rule-the-world/
    then we are about to while we are plunged into austerity similar to US, Canada, UK, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, et al.
    Welcome to the 4th Reich!

    What Government Leader LOYAL to the interests of his country would do a “trade deal” which excludes China and Russia?

    It’s all about the politics and zip to do with “free trade”.

  4. It’s us that’s being traded – consumers. Corps are trading captive consumer markets between themselves while we have no say. Governments are giving up their control and handing it to corps. There is no reason they would do that apart from out and out corruption.

  5. “The big losers in the TPP are patients and treatment providers in developing countries.” said Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), callling TPP ” the worst trade agreement for access to medicines in developing countries, which will be forced to change their laws to incorporate abusive intellectual property protections for pharmaceutical companies.”

    The group says the deal will “raise the price of medicines for millions by unnecessarily extending monopolies and further delaying price-lowering generic competition.”

    https://www.rt.com/usa/317706-what-is-tpp-trade/

  6. In regards to the TPPA’s threat to governments protecting the environment, I could see this government intentionally inviting involvement from corporates just so when a situation, like for instance undersea mining of the Chattham Islands, comes up, it will say it has no choice but to go ahead because otherwise it will have to pay out multi millions to those corporates involved in this venture.

  7. um err – i don’t know why you are saying this now – many of us already knew this – i hope now that people failed to stop it that they will wake up and see what they are really up against – you were never fighting your own govt – they were never going to listen to you – its not a democracy where people have a voice and are listened to – its an oligarchy and has been for some time just down here in little old NZzzzzzz there appears to be some illusion she’ll be right blind spot ….NZzzz is not a puppet state of the empire and empire is what the real force is that has now openly taken control of the worlds govts thanks to the world govts ….these people don’t represent you now and voting no longer means anything ….state-ism is the biggest cancer on the planet

  8. Ever heard of Hobson’s Choice? Wake up. We never had a choice and we still don’t. Keep your powder dry. That way your assessment of the value, or lack of it, in the TPPA carries more weight and the inevitable push back from the supporters of the agreement can be predicted and prepared for. There may easily be political advantage in doing so. If you thunder against something that proves not to be a problem when the details come out, you have blown your credibility and look a fool. But if you present a coherent analysis to show the damage that will be done with evidence and justification, you are likely to win the argument and be able to take advantage of the fact that the government must sign and cannot change any of the provisions.

    Yes, there are likely to be political opportunities for whoever is not having to sign this. But don’t imagine New Zealand ever had any option to turn this “deal” down, because we didn’t. And the chance that it will be meaningfully reversed, whoever comes to power are about nil. Take a look at Greece. So, in practical terms we will have to look hard for what options are created and find some modus vivendi with the TPPA in the longer term, while looking for allies among other loser nations, should there be any.

    It is true that countries outside the agreement will also realise that they will have to join up. Which does offer some new opportunities, as the new countries will be in just as weak a bargaining position as we were.

    One plan B is to crow loudly about how we are going to take advantage of the US’s stupidity in agreeing to this arrangement. (Or, plan C, heap praise on Obama for his brilliant statesmanship). If they buy it (and they are particularly gullible) Congress will kill it.

  9. You are wrong Martin, I never “allowed Key to sign away here.” I never voted for him or his party, I have spoken out about it to friends and work colleagues , I have contributed financially to those actively opposing it. The only way I have allowed this is by not starting an armed insurrection.

    To that end, yes I have allowed Key to sign away.

  10. Great we will be able to pay off National’s $105 Billion Debt over the next couple of years and will be re-elected at the next Election based on their financial performance.

  11. Key has always looked after his own interests one of which is corporations. Dairy and beef were our main exports ,they are no longer a big money earner.
    Maybe we should be dealing more with Russia and India and Middle East who are more honest and less self serving. NZ has the booby prize while America and Japan got the best of the trade deal.
    America will now go over their part of the deal and try to screw more out of small countries.
    We would have been better off if America stayed out of the deal.

  12. We will likely find another side to this marvellous deal at our next election time. No doubt part of the deal will be the Americans helping National to maintain power at any costs. National will have a virtually unlimited budget and access to wealthy spin doctors eager to keep them in power until either the revolution, or judgement day comes.

    • @ Mike the Lefty – Yep.

      NZ’s new capital – Washington DC!

      Let’s hope the revolution comes long before judgement day arrives! Then that will be the day of reckoning for FJK, as well as his salacious, scurrilous band of reprobate MPs!

  13. Glad the TPPA has been finalised. Great effort by the Helen Clark government in the preliminary stages and the John Key government in the latter stages.

    A nation like ours needs the ability to trade!

    • Hahaha!

      Yeah right!

      Good luck pushing that whorey old chestnut here.

      Too many thinking people around this blog to buy that kind of neo-lib spin…

  14. The only reason America got involved in the TPPA deal, is simply because it set Helen Clark up to start their bidding. Once the Pacific Rim countries were secured by Helen, America stepped in at the fifth round of talks and started taking over. America saw an open opportunity to pull trade support away from China, as a means of controlling minor countries.
    From the roping in of the Pacific Rim countries, the American corporatist wealthy elite started pushing in, because they to could see a flood of profiteering to made through other means other than warmongering. And to protect themselves, they’ve made up their own legal system and laws, designed to bypass any and all existing legal courses of proceedure.
    Karma will come to Obama and his administration, as it will with Key and his empire of embezzlers and traitors.

  15. NZ Gov’t MFAT Brief of TPP agreements TPP I plan to now call (Toilet Paper Protocol)

    Apparently US, Japan, Canada keep all their diary protections.

    NZ is not allowed to increase their exports to these countries due to “Financial considerations” WTF!!!!

    Didn’t English/Key/Groser lying to us again say “be assured we will fight for the best deal on dairy we can get”????

    They got nothing at all in dairy to these key markets of Japan, Canada & USA the creeps and still signed us away the traitors.

    Just as well the Russians just allowed us to give our excess supply to them or we would be stuffed so just why do we need TPP when these so called partners are screwing the trade agreement to get their protections and we dont?

    Protectionism is in this crooked deal that we had grocer sign us away rto and now anyone oversease can buy NZ up without us having such a clause in ur own land sensitive policies???? Farming, horticulture, Coastal property and scenery ect”?????

  16. Let the civil disobedience begin ! 1 Vote with your pocket and stop buying American or Corp Thugs goods. 2 take a brics and shav it up an MPs ass

  17. An interesting blog young Bomber.

    Even more interesting was Julian Assange’s interview on Radio NZ this morning in which he points out that this is not a trade deal but that is its “cover”.

    It is in fact a geopolitical move by Uncle Sham which not only guarantees USA dominance, put also pushes its own laws on its satellites.

    You can see a redux of it here: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/286406/julian-assange-talks-to-radio-nz

    I strongly recommend you check it out. You can also find an audio of the interview (Lynn Freeman makes a bit of a muff of it): http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201773758/julian-assange,-the-wikileaks-files

    Don’t be fooled by the spin.

    IT IS NOT A TRADE DEAL!

    And no, Uncle Sham doesn’t want us as the 51st state; he wants us as dependent peasants just like Panama, Grenada, etc etc.

    We need that as much as we need the fucking Roman Empire…

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