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Words can be discombobulating when people twist them to fit concepts that are the exact opposite of what the word actually means.
Consider the current debate in Washington over the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This secretly-negotiated deal is the exact opposite of a “liberal” reform, for it blatantly transfers a major portion of our people’s democratic sovereignty into the plutocratic hands of multinational corporate giants. Yet, lawmakers and pundits fronting for the corporations have disingenuously dubbed this corporatization of power a “liberalization” of global policies.
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I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night. For an example of the reactionary reality of TPP, look at a couple of little favors it does for Big Pharma. First, it extends the number of years that a pharmaceutical giant can keep a patent on its brand-name drugs. Not only does this artificially add more monopoly profits into the coffers of drug makers, but it simultaneously postpones competition from the makers of cheaper generic drugs – an especially dangerous delay for low-income people who’re ill. A second provision restricts public regulation of drug prices by any of the 12 countries that are part of the agreement. This is a gross nullification of the people’s sovereign right to remedy price gouging by corporate profiteers that hold monopolies on life-saving medicines.
Those pushing TPP assert that it’s merely a trade agreement – and we should not bother our little heads with worry about its details. But it’s filled with gotchas like these gifts to Big Pharma. They have nothing to do with trade, and everything to do with global elites secretively, deceitfully, and immorally agreeing among themselves to steal power from us.
Don’t just worry about TPP, fight it. Get the lowdown on how at www.StopTPP.org.