No, there have been sufficient leaks to show that the TPPA’s contents will harm our sovereignty and ability to pass laws relating to health and environmental issues and problems.

If, however you are unaware of these leaks, I can find links for you.

Opposing the TPPA is not about restricting internatyional trade. As I pointed out to you before, international trade has existed long before these so-called “free trade agreements” sprung up.

No, this isn’t about trade. This is about advancing the rights of corporations to an equal footing with sovereign governments and the relegation of democracy.

If the TPPA was so damned good – why is it being kept secret from the public, with only negotiators seeing each others texts?

Feel free to explain that. Because no one else has.

My criticism of Chloe’s article was that she has many of the same privileges as Max Key compared to the vast majority of the world’s population (education, health care, social welfare etc) and her desire for trade protection will only worsen these problems in the third world.

You simply cannot justify wealth/wage inequality by pointing to other parts of the world. That is circular ‘reasoning’, and is a piss-poor attempt to validate our own, home-grown inequalities. You’ll have to do better than that.

No one mentioned trade protection except you. Straw man’s bullshit.

You can quit with the China thing. Your obsession is plain to see.

There are many reasons for this, the insane gun laws, the obsession with $$$, the rampant greed, the hatred of the idea of government, and much more. And, when an ignorant buffoon like Trump has such a large following, what more evidence does one need to see the truth regarding the USA?

So you have no evidence to back up your bigotry? I thought as much.

You make unsubstantiated allegations about “baby breeding”, but can’t back it up. Pathetic.

And linking to former ACT-candidate and right wing blogger, Lindsay Mitchell, will not help your position one iota. Her anti-welfare and beneficiary-bashing views are well know to the rest of us.

So has neo-liberalism.

“Frank, my problem is that some of them farm children purely for the money. “

Really?

Do you have evidfence of “baby farming”?

How many are “baby farming”?

What are the stats – is baby farming increasing or decreasing?

Do you actually have evidence for that piece of bigotry, or just parroting BS you’ve picked up from radio rantback nutters?

Parroting urban myths and headlines as “evidence” merely proves your lack of information.

Evidence please.

Picking on one historical incident (China), out of context, proves nothing. It could just as easily be said that China took a huge leap forward since World War 2 under Mao’s reforms.
Your comment “Your knowledge of history is woeful” is simply parroting my previous response to your lack of knowledge.

As for suggesting that I “… really need to learn how to present an argument without this level of personal insults” – apologies. What should I call an amoral person who believes sweat shops are acceptable for economic growth?

Your posts are an increasing deflection from the points that Chloe’s article has raised; that whilst neo-liberalism has benefitted a few, that the majority have not had the same gains. Wealth is concentrated in few and few families.

This is evidenced by the simple reality that home ownership in this country is trending downward and has been since the 1980s. (Though no doubt you’ll blame others for that problem?) If neo-liberalism was increasing our wealth, home ownership should be rising; child poverty falling; and job and wages increasing.

None of which is happening.

There. Back on track.

Well, sceptic, New Zealand certainly seemed to have pretty good trade before these so-called “free trade agreements” came into being.

In fact, right up until Britain joined the EEC in 1972, we were actually in trade surplus much of the time. (Though the two oil shocks, plus the EEC thing, soon put paid to that.)

According to you, there was no such thing as international trade before these “free trade agreements” came into being. (I wonder where my father got his cars from? Or my cars, in the 1970s? Pixies?)

Your references to China under Chairman Mao is unfair and again shows your ignorance. China had just emerged from a World War; brutal occupation under Imperial Japan; and a civil war. It is amazing they rebuilt so quickly instead of becoming a failed state like so many in the last 25 years.

Considering you expressed a casual attitude toward sweat shops and other exploitation of workers, I think you should be re-examining your own values rather than critiquing someone else. I suspect the vast majority of decent folk would not support your amoral, free-market, dog-eat-dog vision of humanity.