ISDS

Editor,

The article linked to below doesn't even mention the real problem with the TPP, namely Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). In typical NY Times fashion we see labor unions complaining about lower wages and lost jobs. We see horse trading over whether countries a half a world away will abide by "stringent" human rights provisions, as though the USA is not a habitual human rights abuser (see Black Lives Matter).

No, ISDS threatens democracy itself by creating a tribunal of corporate lawyers that will override the very sovereignty of the USA and every other signatory of this horrible agreement. Corporations, which already rule the world by coopting democracy with money, under TPP will not even have to bother buying governments. They will BE the government.

ISDS will allow corporations to sue nations that pass laws that corporations claim will interfere with their projected profits. That's right. American taxpayers will have to pay, say BP, billions of dollars in damages if the U.S. Congress passes a law requiring, for example, more stringent controls on cementing wellheads.

Zero mention of ISDS in this article, just false-equivalence-type fluff about the usual suspects taking the usual sides in the usual debate for the usual reasons. When will the NY Times find out about ISDS and elevate debate about it to the level it deserves?

Re: "Deal Reached on Fast-Track Authority for Obama on Trade Accord" (4/17/2015)