Trade Bill Fails In the House

schwit1 writes: President Obama suffered a major defeat to his Pacific Rim free trade initiative Friday as House Democrats helped derail a key presidential priority despite his last-minute, personal plea on Capitol Hill. "In a remarkable rejection of a president they have resolutely backed, House Democrats voted to kill assistance to workers displaced by global trade, a program their party created and has stood by for four decades. By doing so, they brought down legislation granting the president trade promotion authority — the power to negotiate trade deals that cannot be amended or filibustered by Congress — before it could even come to a final vote." This was after Silicon Valley heavyweights made a last minute push to pass the bill and the White House got personal with many Democratic lawmakers.

Comments

Re:so trade bills

[Travis Mansbridge]

Right, this isn't a treaty, it's the president's authority to "fast-track" trade bills (like the TPP, TTIP and newly-revealed TiSA) past congress that was shot down.

Re:Welcome to Fascist America!

[circletimessquare]

morons who want to weaken or destroy our government are only helping the plutocrats. the power they have over you does not disappear when you weaken or destroy the government, all you do is give them a smaller roster of people to pay off

the problem is not government

the problem is the plutocrats who buy congresswhores and fake regulators

you want to FIX government, not destroy it. cure it of its corruption

if you have less government, less regulation, the power the plutocrats have over you does not disappear. they simply have less people they have to bribe. then they start hiring their own goon squads and turn you into slaves

that's not science fiction, that's well establish american history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Pinkerton's agents performed services ranging from security guarding to private military contracting work. Pinkerton was the largest private law enforcement organization in the world at the height of its power.[3] By the early 1890s, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency employed more agents than there were members of the standing army of the United States of America.

During the labor strikes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, businessmen hired the Pinkerton Agency to infiltrate unions, supply guards, keep strikers and suspected unionists out of factories, as well as recruiting goon squads to intimidate workers. One such confrontation was the Homestead Strike of 1892, in which Pinkerton agents were called in to reinforce the strikebreaking measures of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, acting on behalf of Andrew Carnegie.[citation needed] The ensuing battle between Pinkerton agents and striking workers led to the deaths of seven Pinkerton agents and nine steelworkers.[4] The Pinkertons were also used as guards in coal, iron, and lumber disputes in Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia as well as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921. The organization was pejoratively called the "Pinks" by its opponents.

we defeated them with labor movements and unions. but, like you said, since reagan the unions have been broken up. scott walker is killing the last of them. and now the plutocrats are back in charge

now we have to fight the fight of our great grandfathers, all over again

the problem is legalized corruption in the usa. we need REGULATION. actual regulation, not corrupt regulation controlled by the people who are supposed to be regulated

of course that's not perfect, but it is 9,000x better than no regulation and less government

look to canada, the nordic countries: places where they actually have effective government, actual laws that control corruption. and where the people are happier, more socially mobile, and spend far less on healthcare and education than we do

in the usa we have a supreme court who in 2010 said "money is speech" and so the rich now have the only real effective speech in the usa. probably the most anti-american and destructive event in the history of the usa. not the war of 1812, not the civil war, not pearl harbor, not 911: the most anti-american event in the history of this country was 2010's citizens united

you want to strengthen your government, and have strong anti-corruption laws passed

that's the only power you really have: your government. YOUR government, not the corrupted piece of shit we currently have. fight to get it back

fix it, don't destroy it (morons who dream of shooting it out in the woods a la the second amendment and revolution are simply dead people waking: you don't have the numbers nor the firepower, and revolutions are far far worse than our current problems regardless)