Why Did Japan Just Ratify The TPP? (businesstimes.com.sg) 225
The controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership can't go into effect without U.S. approval, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has acknowledged. Yet despite president-elect Trump's promise to withdraw from the agreement -- Friday Japan's parliament voted to approve it. An anonymous reader quotes the Business Times.
Was last Friday's vote simply a Quixotic tribute to a dying cause or -- as some are asking -- does Mr. Abe know something that others don't? They note that he is the only foreign leader to have met with the anointed heir to the U.S. presidency since the election result was announced. What went on in New York's Trump Tower during that "informal" meeting is unknown but some speculate that there may have been some equally informal -- but nonetheless significant -- dealmaking between the two men on the TPP. This seems quite possible, analysts say, because the TPP is of great importance to Japan and to Mr. Abe's grand design for Japan to remain a pivotal Asia-Pacific power.
The EFF has decried "the intense push to ram Internet issues into international law through the TPP," and complained Friday that Japan's newly-passed law "includes the extension of Japan's copyright term from 50 to 70 years after the death of the author, which makes today a very sad day for Japan's public domain."
And in addition, "There remains a risk that other TPP countries such as Singapore -- and even countries that weren't part of the original deal, such as Taiwan -- will soon also bring their domestic legislation into conformity with the requirements of this dead agreement."
The EFF has decried "the intense push to ram Internet issues into international law through the TPP," and complained Friday that Japan's newly-passed law "includes the extension of Japan's copyright term from 50 to 70 years after the death of the author, which makes today a very sad day for Japan's public domain."
And in addition, "There remains a risk that other TPP countries such as Singapore -- and even countries that weren't part of the original deal, such as Taiwan -- will soon also bring their domestic legislation into conformity with the requirements of this dead agreement."
The President is not the State Department (Score:4, Insightful)
Our completely-unaccountable-to-voters State Department is still trying to get TPP to pass despite the political environment changing around them. Japan ratified because they want a good relationship with the people who will still be in charge when Trump takes office.
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Japan ratified because they want a good relationship with the people who will still be in charge when Trump takes office.
That's a dumb theory considering everyone and their mom believes that Trump will kill off TPP. It's practically the only thing he has said he will do that people actually believe he will do.
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This assumes Obama doesn't sign the TPP before the end of December.
He could sign the agreement, and convene the senate, or failing that, the agreement will automatically go into affect,
then Trump won't be able to kill it.....
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He said so as a "sales pitch" to the voters and as a vector to attack Hillary, just like he attacked her for being too close to ex-Goldman Sachs people.
Since the original point of the TPP was to put the squeeze on China (with all the bits nobody likes being sweeteners to other nations to join in), the TPP is just the sort of thing crafted for something like Trumps silly idea of a trade war with China.
No point mentioning Obama - he was not in the loop when Ab
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Translation: Fuck, the asshole hired Goldman Sachs people, I need some way to argue myself out this box my stupidity put me in.
He's populated his cabinet with like-minded bazillionaires (well, presuming the Senate approves). Simply put, you voted for the Elite, but this is an Elite unconstrained by even a modicum of decency.
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Unless it's an anti-abortion case. Then they can't wait to approve it.
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There's your problem right there. Actually believing anything that comes out of Trump's mouth. He's broken numerous campaign promises and he's not even in office yet.
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In your dreams, globalist shill.
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There's your problem right there. Actually believing anything that comes out of Trump's mouth. He's broken numerous campaign promises and he's not even in office yet.
I'm seeing more and more anti-Trumpers displaying annoyance that he appears to be adopting more moderate positions. Why? The anti-Trumps were unhappy that he wanted to deport illegal immigrants, now those very same people appear to be unhappy that he won't.
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I don't see anyone complaining about the more moderate positions. I see people shadenfreuding over people who voted Trump.
He's turning out to be a decent Democratic President.
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You must be extremely right-wing to think anything he's done lately is a "moderate" position.
I'm not right-wing. I'm not even white. I'm merely wondering why those people who complained about his previous stance on immigration now complaining he won't follow through.
Do you have an answer to this?
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Watch what he does, not what he says.
Re:Get over it. (Score:5, Insightful)
I am over that. But I am still not over Bernie losing.
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Translation: "Stop pointing out that i got conned by a liar! Waaaaaaaah!"
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I expect that view is going to appear to be very naive some time around February. Why trust anything he's said given his track record? If we are naive enough to believe that Trump really wants a trade war with China then the TPP is the instrument that has been built over years to do that. So which Trump lie is the rea
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That's a dumb theory considering everyone and their mom believes that Trump will kill off TPP. It's practically the only thing he has said he will do that people actually believe he will do.
What Trump said is irrelevant. What matters is how much he likes the people who will benefit from it.
Re:The President is not the State Department (Score:5, Insightful)
That's a dumb theory considering everyone and their mom believes that Trump will kill off TPP. It's practically the only thing he has said he will do that people actually believe he will do.
As with the Investigatory Powers Act in the UK, there are two kinds of people in the general population when it comes to TPP: Those that are against it and those that haven't heard of it. The latter group is a lot larger. If there's something that will make the second group happy, it will more than offset doing something that will make the first group unhappy. And Trump can always smile and say 'well, you know, I was against TPP when Crooked Hillary was behind it, but we've made some changes and the new one is a lot better. A lot of the people who were moaning about it, they hadn't read it, and I hadn't read it. Now I know what it says, and now that we've removed the bits that Crooked Hillary really liked, now we can pass it and it will make America great again.'
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Japan ratified because they want a good relationship with the people who will still be in charge when Trump takes office.
That's a dumb theory considering everyone and their mom believes that Trump will kill off TPP. It's practically the only thing he has said he will do that people actually believe he will do.
I think that he wasn't talking about Americans. Probably the rest of the world, or perhaps China. There are dangers of isolation ahead.
It's about Crushing the Agricultural Association. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Interesting! I didn't know why Japan had so strong regulations on food imports, but now I do.
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Yeah, sadly corruption by the big money permeates the US political system, including the establishment of both parties. And the **AA our good friends just use the system.
Powerful, But Are They In Charge of Gundam? (Score:2)
The Japanese Agricultural Association (JA) is a very powerfull association that distorts vast amounts of money from the Japanese farmers like Italian mobsters. Money that the government wants to have but it did not have any means to take on the JA.
Of course not, because the goverment Agricultural Ministry is not in charge of Gundam [slashdot.org]. We might have finally found out who is, though.
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Sunrise [wikipedia.org] has always been in charge of Gundam.
Re:It's about Crushing the Agricultural Associatio (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm guessing you live in Japan like me, so just wanted to point out for anyone interested that this is pretty much dead on. I would like to point out that it's neglecting the immensely positive push it got from car and electronics companies. If the TPP passed as-is Japanese cars and electronics could easily take over the US market place and would likely decimate the US domestic market. Really it would have been great for Japan, which is why I personally wanted it to pass, but the honest truth is as Trump points out it was an abysmal deal for the US. Personally I hope they just renegotiate it.
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How many Japanese products are made in China and just branded. Really the only reason they signed off is pure empty politics. No country with an even slightly honest government will sign off sovereignty to a secret corporate court. So with the US out, Japan can try to dominate weak partners because Australia and New Zealand are out. There is already agreement the deal will not be renegotiated so the Japanese government is just attempting to keep the existing one alive. It is pretty obvious is being a sock
Re:It's about Crushing the Agricultural Associatio (Score:5, Insightful)
but the honest truth is as Trump points out it was an abysmal deal for the US
The negative impact on the US auto industry really misses the point, protectionism is almost always to the detriment of the country as a whole. Under the deal the Japanese agricultural industry suffers, but all Japanese people get cheaper food. It's a net benefit to Japan, even though it has a negative impact on that specific industry. At the same time the US agricultural industry gains from this.
Likewise: under the deal the US auto industry suffers, but all Americans get cheaper cars. Since almost all Americans drive, it's a net benefit to the US. And, at the same time, the Japanese auto industry gains from this. Exactly the same situation as above.
Third thing: the copyright stuff is being handled in the opposite way - favor the industry over the whole population. This is why people protest it, but it's easy to see why the politicians do it this way. The loss to industry is easy to quantify, even if they do give ridiculously inflated numbers, but the monetary benefit of shorter copyright terms is very hard to measure. You're trying to estimate the value of all of the works which could exist but don't, thanks to copyright. So politicians favor the safer option, ignoring all of the non-monetary value of the potential works that they're stifling, and go with copyright protectionism.
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Alternatively, American car companies would no longer be complacent and actually innovate to produce competitive cars.
I thought the Republicans were supposed to represent free markets. Yet because the TPP got proposed under Obama they're foaming at the teeth about it.
Taiwan? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Taiwan? (Score:5, Funny)
No.
Betteridge's Law is clear, the answer is no. No one called Taiwan a country, and Japan ratified the TPP because no. It's a law, like gravity, so it is clear. No.
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Not a fan of the Trumperor at all, but as far as I'm concerned he can talk to whoever he likes. China can go pound sand.
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Taiwan isn't a country. The Republic of China (ROC) is a country, with Taiwan comprising the majority of its present territory.
Their flag is the ROC flag, their anthem is the ROC anthem, all their money says ROC, one of their two main political parties is the Kuomintang (i.e., the Nationalist party that fought the Communists in the Chinese Civil War), and their vehicle license plates say "Taiwan Province" on them. Only ultra-progressives in the Taiwan Independence movement actually consider "Taiwan", rather
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A lot of people don't really understand how a country is defined, including yourself.
A country is merely a defined political division, that means it needs some kind of border, but even a government isn't technically necessary - consider Iraq post 2003 invasion, administered by the US and it's allies with the Iraqi government ousted, but still very much a country in itself, it didn't simply cease to exist as such. Taiwan most definitely is a country. This is much the same as England, Scotland, and Wales, whi
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A lot of people don't really understand how a country is defined, including yourself.
A country is merely a defined political division, that means it needs some kind of border, but even a government isn't technically necessary
I think your definition of country is a bit too broad, unless you think the third ward of Houston, Texas, United States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] is a country, or that any city, state, subdivision, etc is a country. If that is your stance, then your definition is beyond silly; it is useless. To try to make the spirit of your definition work, I would suggest that a country is a geographic area with a political identity but which is not a subdivision of any larger political identity.
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I rather think you missed the point, a country is not ANY defined political division. It's A defined political division.
There's a subtle difference there that you've failed to interpret. Your definition already fails in the face of England, Scotland, and Wales, because they are subdivisions of larger political identities (Great Britain) but are also countries.
Typically whether a geographic area is defined as a country or not depends on it's history as much as anything - this is why Taiwan is deemed a countr
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Re:Taiwan? (Score:4, Funny)
What makes a country "legitimate?"
Twitter followers
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Frankly? Conquest. The conqueror gets to define the boundaries. Taiwan will remain within the borders conquered by Chiang Kai-shek's army until such time that it either willingly incorporates itself into another territory or is itself conquered.
On November 18 Abe spoke to Trump (Score:5, Informative)
Abe is now passing Japan's part of the TPP.
Haven't you guys worked out yet that what Trump said before the election and what he is going to do are different things? He's got a very long history of promising various deals and not delivering.
Re:On November 18 Abe spoke to Trump (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe we should wait until his ASS ACTUALLY HITS THE CHAIR IN THE FUCKING OVAL OFFICE BEFORE WHINING ABOUT HIM BREAKING HIS PROMISES.
Unless you plan to do that anyway, no matter what, in which case have the common fucking decency to at least PRETEND you're waiting to see what he does. In my day we did our oppo research by breaking into places and jimmying file cabinets open - in the dark, because flashlights would get you Watergated! Now you kids just "hack into something." Or send some DUMBASS an email that says "gib login pls" and Bob's yer uncle!
GET OFF MY LAWN!
Whine when they break (Score:3)
He's already breaking some with his appointments. Why give him a free pass when cries for Hillary to be lock locked up happened any time Goldman Sachs connections were mentioned?
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Maybe we should wait until his ASS ACTUALLY HITS THE CHAIR IN THE FUCKING OVAL OFFICE BEFORE WHINING ABOUT HIM BREAKING HIS PROMISES.
Why? He's already broken promises. In fact, he's pretty much admitted that some of the things he said was only to get elected. [cnn.com]
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Hehehe...including to American banks which now have a standing policy to never invest in his companies again.
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It's even simpler than that. The Japanese government has been working on getting TPP through for years. It's been a long, hard fight. To give up now would be to admit defeat, so better to just pass it, claim their victory and then (fairly) blame its failure on the change of government in the US.
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What he told Abe and what he does will be two totally different things. We will find out the hard way that fucking over every foreign leader is not the same as fucking over the guy who installs your curtains. We will find out, but Trump won't since he won't be hurt personally by any of the blowback.
12 countries since 2008, not only USA today (Score:3, Interesting)
Twelve countries are party to TPP. It only has to be ratified by six in order to become binding (on those six). As currently written, the US and Japan have to be among the six, but certainly the other 11, or some of them, could decide to put it into effect among themselves. TPP can exist without the US, if Japan is included. Heck, the US isn't party to a precursor of TPP, the Transpacific Economic Partnership Agreement.
Also, Trump could have a heart attack tomorrow - he may never become president. After all these years of negotiations, there's no reason for Japan to just drop it, based only on something someone said during a campaign; people say all kinds of things during campaigns. The US could even ratify TPP in 2020, after Trump leaves office. (At least I don't know if any time limit offhand.)
Re:12 countries since 2008, not only USA today (Score:5, Insightful)
More realistically, Trump is playing another con game. While he seems to prefer to produce his clothing in Mexico(which is why a tariff is not likely to happen), the building material for his developments still overwhelming come from Asia. Even Congress when given an opportunity to establish that we use only US materials to build using US tax dollars was unwilling to impose that restriction. Furthermore, his daughter depends on Asia to produce her goods.
So what we know is anything that streamlines trade with Asia makes Trump rich, and anything that makes it harder makes him less rich. Now, Trump may want to renegotiate the deal on specific points that do not benefit his company, so it makes sense that he would be talking about not ratifying the deal as a negotiating tactic.
But if you want to know what will happen, look in the news about how the supply chain for US manufacturers is world wide, how any disruption with Asia would raise prices and cost jobs, and the number of Goldman Sachs former executives in his cabinet.
Re:12 countries since 2008, not only USA today (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:12 countries since 2008, not only USA today (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately, copyright lobby is also using as a Trojan horse to smuggle in pro-copyright laws.
And you can bet that China is not sleeping - they are promoting their One-Belt-One-Road initiative to make a China-dominated trade pact.
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That would be "the US and Japan" (Score:2)
As I said, "as currently written, the US and Japan have to be among the six." A new agreement *could* consist of one sentence: "strike the 85% requirement".
Wouldn't count on 2020 (Score:2)
Also, Trump could have a heart attack tomorrow - he may never become president. After all these years of negotiations, there's no reason for Japan to just drop it, based only on something someone said during a campaign; people say all kinds of things during campaigns. The US could even ratify TPP in 2020, after Trump leaves office. (At least I don't know if any time limit offhand.)
I know that a lot of people like to think that Trump will only be a one term president, but the odds are huge - or "yuge" as Trump says - that he'll serve two terms. Why?
1) Since 1900 most sitting presidents have won re-election to a 2nd term. You can roughly categorize the losers as being beaten during periods of great economic malaise. Trump and the Republicans are going to push through a lot of tax cuts that may be long term disasters but in the short term the economy should grow here.
2) Since Ei
Trump is unusual. Also "it's the economy, stupid" (Score:2)
That's a good point, sitting presidents are most often re-elected. Also, presidents are normally politicians - they have years of experience in other political offices before becoming president. Presidents normally have strong support from their party leadership. Presidents are normally diplomatic, they don't say grossly inflammatory things on a weekly basis. Trump is not typical. I'd be very wary of predicting anything about Trump based on previous presidents.
On the other hand, presidents are so arrogan
More objectively, a promoter, and deal maker (Score:2)
> Trump just says stuff, he hasn't read the Constitution much less the TPP, he said what people wanted to hear.
Absolutely.
> Read any of his books and he freely admits to being a con man.
> I mean, dealmaker.
Many years ago, before he was involved in politics at all, I read some of his books. He's a) a promoter, someone who gets press coverage, and b) a deal-maker. He's not a Constitutional scholar, though it seems even a professor of Constitutional law turned president is happy to disregard the
Of course he will sign the TPP (Score:5, Interesting)
While he is cosing up to Russia [nymag.com], the latest insults towards China [reuters.com] indicate that the latter will be designated as the new hostile nation #1, and the TPP is all about containing and insulating China. [fortune.com]
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There has been one consistent theme throughout his life: Trump is in it for Trump.
He has no intention to be there when things collapse. This is a run and grab operation. He won't hesitate to set the world on fire if it'll make him a pretty penny.
Well... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Quod Erat Demonstrandum (Score:5, Funny)
The only reason I think that Japan would have done it, is if they think that the current coup to put Hillary in power by flooding the news with propaganda about "Russian hacking" will definitely succeed, which will result in Hillary signing the TTP into law. I would rather not actually see this happen, considering how horrible the law actually is (Personally I don't like the idea of it killing the Dojinshi industry, not to mention the US jobs and jobs of whatever other modern country joins in). This was more likely a leak than a hack, considering the suspicious death of Seth Rich.
Trump supporters don't drink the kool-aid - they snort the powder.
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She was for it... then against it.
If Trump can be given a pass on what he was for, and then against, then why is Hillary still judged by this different standard?
Re:Well... (Score:5, Insightful)
The only person who has said they "do not believe" the intelligence is Trump himself.
And the FBI. Which reported a very different set of conclusions.
Regardless, what is it you think happened? Voting machines got hacked or something? What happened was some leaked email. The only reason that had any impact on the election was because it showed how corrupt the Clinton machine and the DNC are. That might have been the last straw for some people not interested in voting for Hillary anyway, but it didn't cause the complete blow-out of all of those state legislative seats, the governorships, both houses of congress, etc. The Russians didn't have any meaningful impact at all. Hillary was a terrible candidate who lied at every turn and heaped scorn on the people she said she wanted to lead. And people across the country were sick of it. California and NY were taken for granted by Clinton, and those states did indeed step up and do their obedient liberal duty. But lots of other liberal-centric places refused to take the Hillary bait, and defected or stayed home. If you think that was about the Russians, you're delusional. Yes, the CIA's right - the Russians definitely had a preference for who they wanted to see win. Just like the British government did. And the Italians. And China. And the government of Canada. So what?
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If they were trying to help us out, they should have released both; not just the opponent of the one they wanted to win.
What makes you think that there were leaks of anyone else's email, besides the DNC stuff? Assange says the leaks were internal, not Russian hackers. Do you have better information than he does?
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Because the RNC were the hackers.
So what information do you have that the CIA, the FBI, and wikileaks itself (who received the information) don't have? Be specific.
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You mean, the guy who was shot, and then lived for an hour, indicating that if it was a hit, it was a hit by the worst hit men ever?
Or maybe the poor bastard was simply the victim of a robbery gone wrong.
Whatever happens... (Score:5, Funny)
It must be the lefties fault.
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I'm sure there's enough hate to go around for all.
Amazing (Score:2)
It's amazing the things you can accomplish when you don't have mental illness.
TPP, to quote Monte Python... (Score:2)
... is not dead yet. Trump is not sworn in, there are plenty of D's and R's still supporting this legislation, and Obama would sign it if it came to his desk. It's not dead until it's actually dead in Congress for this lame duck session. And then who knows? Trump could change his mind.
Thanks for electing us an inconsistent buffoon R's. Because you don't actually know what he's going to do.
Truth? (Score:2)
I read something else (Score:3, Interesting)
> Was last Friday's vote simply a Quixotic tribute to a dying cause or -- as some are asking -- does Mr. Abe know something that others don't?
I read something else in this part. Obama killed the TPP because Trump was against it and he couldn't pass it in the lame duck session, so he might as well deny others credit for killing the deal he & Hillary negotiated.
So I assume they're wondering if Abe either knows that Hillary has a non-zero chance or they think Trump could be persuaded to go for it.
Perso
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Abe flew to the USA to meet Trump a few weeks ago. I think we are seeing some of the results of their discussion.
Re:I read something else (Score:5, Funny)
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Persuad Trump? He's flip-flopped on all kinds of stuff already, and it's not like suddenly people started telling him "No, that is a stupid idea because of A B and C". And since he's got significant assets in IP, it would not surprise me at all for him to try to push TPP through.
He's also the first person to call out "Booorrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnnggggg" during the President’s Daily Security Briefing.
Re:I read something else (Score:4, Insightful)
He's flip-flopped on all kinds of stuff already
Sure, he's flipped on a lot of issues, but opposition to free trade, along with restricting immigration, were his two big signature issues. If he flips on those, then he stands for absolutely nothing.
Disclaimer: As someone who didn't vote for him, I have been happy to see all his flipping to positions that actually make sense, and I would be even happier if he flips on these as well. But his supporters would rightfully feel betrayed.
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you may want to lookup kleptocracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re:I read something else (Score:5, Interesting)
Now Sanders was clearly anti-free trade.
Re:I read something else (Score:4, Insightful)
And the parts of the TPP that were bad were the intellectual property bits - and the bit about letting multinational corporations bypass local rules. Trump gave no indication that he's opposed to those things. In fact, his 'winning is everything' ethic might actually favor them.
The parts of the TTP that were good - yes there were some, and that's where Hillary's 'gold standard' quote came from - had to do with environmental and labor standards that previous trade deals had not included or made enforceable. That plus the prospect of serving as a counterweight to China in the region. On those issues, Trump probably either doesn't care - or doesn't know enough to have an opinion.
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I take exception that Trump stands for absolutely nothing. He stands for himself, and only himself. He'd throw the U.S. under bus if it suited his purpose.
His modus operandi is well-known. He sees something he doesn't agree with (today, tomorrow might be a different story), finds an opposing figure or group, starts a food fight like he was in high school, and then counters the inevitable blowback with a wookie defense.
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[citation needed]
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But his supporters would rightfully feel betrayed.
Rightfully? No, I disagree. they knowingly voted for a very dodgy guy who was prepared to simply make stuff up on a regular basis and who's claimed positions clearly were at odds with his actions, then well, if he flip flops yet again, they can hardly claim it was unexpected.
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Sure, he's flipped on a lot of issues, but opposition to free trade, along with restricting immigration, were his two big signature issues. If he flips on those, then he stands for absolutely nothing.
Annnnnd Bingo! He stands for very little other than himself, which is close enough to nothing for all intents.
Now if for some weird reason he and congress decides to stand firm on so many of these issues, the US will begin to find itself isolated as the world moves on. Isolation will lead to dropping the dollar as the standard currency, and adopting the yen.
The TPP won't be the sole reason, but since the world is very interconnected, it will be come a death by a thousand cuts situation.
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So he hasn't _actively_ worked in favor of free trade yet, but his opposition to it has been pretty weak sauce.
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The entire corporate establishment wants the TTP, there's too much at stake for them if it dies. Trump doesn't really give a shit about it, but he's not about to pass up some gain for himself if he threatens to kills it.
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Re:What do you mean, "WHY"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah, the new and exciting world of post-truth, where all you need is an opinion and an inflated ego. It worked for Trump, so it must work for everybody else.
It is obvious why they do this: They want the TPP to work, and they are sending a political signal, not least to Trump. but also to other, interested parties in the region. Basically, what they say is: "We want closer cooperation - ideally with the US, but we might get this to work without." I haven't studied the details (or even the headlines, tbh) of the TPP, but given the internet, easy travel, trans-national corporations etc, globalisation is a fact, and if the US want to isolate themselves, the rest of the world will go on without. You may point to Brexit, but the take-away point here is that UK is in no way talking about isolationism - quite the opposite, in fact: they want to become more international than they felt they were able to in EU (I don't agree with Brexit, but that's beside the point). Globalisation will happen with you or to you; I think it is better to take active part in the processes and see if you can influence them in your favour. By refusing to be part of it and sulking in a corner, all you achieve is to be left out of influence.
Re:What do you mean, "WHY"? (Score:4, Interesting)
I've studied the TPP. That anyone who is in favor of American exceptionalism would be against it is mind-blowing. The U.S. and Japan basically bullied a bunch of smaller but up-and-coming countries to play by Westernized rules with a lot of exceptions that American and Japanese industries don't have to follow those same rules as swiftly (think agriculture, which is exempt from a lot of the TPP tariff reductions).
It basically extends U.S. corporate hegemony to China's doorstep. And before you go all "but but corporations are greedy!" you want American corporations to do well more than you want a Chinese state-sponsored company to do well.
Re:Answer: China (Score:5, Interesting)
China may be rapidly militarizing, but even at current rates it is decades away from being able to project force with the ability of the US and even some of the US's allies. China has exactly one aircraft carrier actually in the water at this point.
And while I think Trump is a farcical moron, all he's really doing with this latest saber rattling is making open that which has been US policy for decades. Yes, the US won't acknowledge the Taiwanese government, even as arms it to the teeth and makes it clear that any attempt by China to seize Taiwan would lead to retaliation. And really, with China's military as it is, it's dubious it could even take Taiwan, which is one of the most fortified chunks of rock on the planet.
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You're a year late, hoverboards are old and busted. Do you have any Tickle Me Elmos?
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Hoverboard fires, cell phone fires... I think I see a pattern.
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From this news it looks very much that it is not.
Enjoy the exciting times of the uncertainty of living under the rule of someone who thinks autocracy is a good idea and has few to oppose him. A few months ago The Word of Trump was no TPP, while now it looks like The Word of Trump as uttered to Abe is that there will be a TPP. House and Senate will not stop him and the Supreme Court will be stacked with enough new members to ensure Trump gets his way.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
You actually believed Trump when he said that? How dumb are you?
Re: (Score:2)
I'm fine with giving Japan nukes if it helps me get to retirement faster. Then I'll move to the Southern Hemisphere.
I suggest reading "On The Beach" about a ship captain retiring to the Southern Hemisphere due to nukes.
Ava Gardner described Melbourne as "the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world."
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Ava Gardner described Melbourne as "the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world."
Because it tops the world's most liveable cities lists, so the rest of the world may as well not exist?
Sort of like a 'restaurant at the end of the universe'?
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Think of the deep south of the USA in the 1950s and double it.
Re: (Score:2)
It's a figurative expression. I know people round here can be very literal minded but surely as a writer you know better.
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Mr. Trump is the presumptive President-elect. He isn't officially the President-elect until December 19. If Secretary Clinton can strike a deal with 12 percent of Mr. Trump's electors to switch to John Kasich, we won't even have #1TermDonald.