Special coverage in the Trump Era

From Public Citizen's Corporate Presidency site: "44 Trump administration officials have close ties to the Koch brothers and their network of political groups, particularly Vice President Mike Pence, White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney."

Dark Money author Jane Mayer on The Dangers of President Pence, New Yorker, Oct. 23 issue on-line

Can Time Inc. Survive the Kochs? November 28, 2017 By
..."This year, among the Kochs’ aims is to spend a projected four hundred million dollars in contributions from themselves and a small group of allied conservative donors they have assembled, to insure Republican victories in the 2018 midterm elections. Ordinarily, political reporters for Time magazine would chronicle this blatant attempt by the Kochs and their allies to buy political influence in the coming election cycle. Will they feel as free to do so now?"...

"Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America" see: our site, and George Monbiot's essay on this key book by historian Nancy MacLean.

Full interview with The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer March 29, 2017, Democracy Now! about her article, "The Reclusive Hedge-Fund Tycoon Behind the Trump Presidency: How Robert Mercer Exploited America’s Populist Insurgency."

Democracy Now! Special Broadcast from the Women's March on Washington

The Economics of Happiness -- shorter version

Local Futures offers a free 19-minute abridged version  of its award-winning documentary film The Economics of Happiness. It "brings us voices of hope of in a time of crisis." www.localfutures.org.

What's New?

September 03, 2014

US and EU Free Trade Agreement is recipe for trouble

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) harms the interests of European farmers and citizens in favor of boosting profits for international corporations.
In the US it is also called the Trans-Atlantic "Free Trade" Agreement (TAFTA)

From La Via Campesina, International Peasant's Movement, August 8, 2014:

Excerpt:
"TTIP was launched to the sounds of cheering and applause, with its advocates promising that the agreement could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and billions of euros in extra income. But, the European Commission’s own research undertaken by the think tank Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), has shown that the predicted additional GDP growth per year with the free trade agreement will be very low (0.05%). Furthermore, the hundreds of thousands promised new jobs are far from guaranteed.

The European Commission decided on the agreement behind closed doors, with no emphasis on transparency. Yet from what has surfaced, we can already see how negotiators are seeking to limit food safety regulations in order to benefit US agribusiness: allowing usage of hormones in meat and milk; chicken meat cleaned with chlorine; genetically modified grains;  veterinary medicine  currently banned in the EU; and  minimal requirements for animal welfare. Under TTIP these US standards will affect and weaken existing regulations  in the EU."...
read full posting here

See also:

30 Reasons why Greens oppose TTIP

"The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership raises a whole host of concerns in a variety of areas. In no particular order, here's a list of some of the reasons why we are currently against the deal."

In the US TTIP is also called: The Trans-Atlantic "Free Trade" Agreement (TAFTA)
Download 5 page fact sheet on TAFTA
(2.3 MB)

Groups Highlighting
TAFTA's Threats:


Center for Effective Government

Center for Food Safety
Coalition for Sensible Safeguards
Consumer Federation of America
Economic Policy Institute
Food and Water Watch
National Consumers League
Public Citizen
Sierra Club
U.S. PIRG

 

 

 


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