Visit the New Website
Renewing America
Print edition available now
Available also on Kindle and other devices.Renewing America and
Its Heritage of Freedom
What Freedom-Loving Americans
Can Do to Help
Learn More!
Buy Now!What’s Really Going on in America?
America’s Economic War – Your Freedom, Money and Life
A Citizen’s Handbook for Understanding the War between American Capitalism and Socialism
Learn More!
Buy Now!Will America Choose Prosperity?
Social Media Links
TV and Talk Radio Interviews
To schedule Dr. Lameiro for an immediate TV or Talk Radio interview, please contact Dr. Lameiro’s publicist in New York, Sandy Frazier.Choosing the Good Life
Categories
- About This Blog
- About This Website
- Agriculture
- America's Economic War
- America's Future
- American Capitalism
- American Culture
- Apparel Industry
- Architecture of American Capitalism
- Bankruptcy Laws
- Big Government
- Campaign Finance
- Choosing the Good Life
- Climate Change
- Constitution
- Cyber Attacks
- Cyber Threats
- Cyber War
- Defense
- Depression
- Double-Dip Recession
- Economic Freedom
- Economic Growth
- Economy
- Education
- Elections
- EMP Attack
- Energy Economics
- Energy Industry
- Environmental Socialism
- Financial Sector Regulation
- First Amendment
- Food Industry
- Fox News
- Free Trade
- Freedom
- Freedom of Living
- Freedom of Speech
- Gender Issues
- Global Warming
- Great Recession
- Hayek Book Prize
- Health and Epidemic Issues
- Health Care System
- Housing
- ICANN
- Immigration
- Import Quotas
- Income Inequality
- Inflation
- Innovation
- Interest Rates
- Internet
- Internet Freedom
- Internet Regulation
- Job Creation
- Jobs
- Lawlessness
- Limited Government
- Mainstream Media
- Market Capitalism
- Middle Class Economics
- Military Defense
- National Security
- Net Neutrality
- News
- Political Parties
- Poverty
- Presidential Elections
- Progressive Socialism
- Prosperity
- Redistribution of Wealth
- Regulations
- Renewing America Book
- Restaurant Industry
- Rule of Law
- Small Businesses
- Socialism
- Solar Energy Industry
- State Capitalism
- State of the Union
- Supreme Court
- Talk Radio
- Tariffs
- Taxes
- Terrorism
- The Bill of Rights
- The Constitution
- Trade in Services Agreement (TISA)
- Trade Promotion Authority (TPA)
- Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
- Uncategorized
- Unemployment
- Voter ID
- Wealth Inequality
- Welfare State Socialism
TPA – Poison Pill or Vitamin Pill for Free Trade?
BREAKING NEWS – Monday, June 8, 2015 from breitbart.com/big-government – Breitbart reports today that Rep. Duncan Hunter has requested the House Majority Leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, to delay voting on any fast-track authority usually called the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for the President, until the President makes public all information and text related to the proposed, new economic union known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as well as the so-called Living Agreement Authority (LAA).
Rep. Hunter’s concerns include:
##### END OF BREAKING NEWS #####
TPA or Trade Promotion Authority is currently being debated across America. A vote in the House is expected this week or next week. It’s about as controversial and confusing a subject as any national issue gets with conservatives and progressives all over the map. Some support it. Some reject it. It definitely does not follow standard party lines. What’s going on with TPA? Is it a poison pill or a vitamin pill for Free Trade? Let’s look at this issue now …
What is TPA or Trade Promotion Authority?
Trade Promotion Authority is legislation originally created by Congress in the early 1970’s that authorizes the president to negotiate trade agreements with other nations. If the president negotiates a trade agreement, the president is required to send it to Congress for an up-or-down vote within a limited period of time. The up-or-down voting process does not allow any amendments to the trade agreement prior to the vote. It’s a straight up-or-down vote.
Currently, TPA has expired and Congress must re-enact a new TPA or fast-track authority for the administration to continue moving ahead on other new trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The Senate has already passed TPA by a vote of 62-37 on May 22, 2015. The upcoming controversial vote is expected in the next week or two in the House.
If TPA Passes the House, What Comes Next?
The answer is a veritable alphabet soup of possible new trade agreements with potentially dramatic impact on our freedoms and our economy. How great an impact depends on who you believe and how good you are at guessing the secret terms in some of these super secret agreements. First, let’s look at the possible new trade agreements coming:
Is TPA and the Rest of the Alphabet Soup a Vitamin Pill for Free Trade?
That’s essentially what the supporters of TPA and TPP say. Supporters include the administration and many Free Trade conservatives in the House and the Senate. Supporters tout more jobs, greater market access, resolution of trade issues, etc. They are projecting a motherhood and apple pie story, with virtually no mention of any real problems.
Of course, in general, Free Trade is a great thing for economic growth. I have written about it in my writings. But, Free Trade should be open, honest and transparent. More than one Free Trade advocate has asked the question: Why must the TPP agreement be super secret with virtually no one seeing the details? You have to wonder if there are terms in the agreement than many would disagree with, like forced climate change regulations.
In my newest book Renewing America and It’s Heritage of Freedom in Chapter 4, I discuss the morality of laws. I use as my main reference the Treatise on Law written by St. Thomas Aquinas. For any law to be moral and valid it must be “promulgated” that is published or announced or communicated to its citizens. I think TPP fails for lack of transparency. It’s really the same reason why ObamaCare continues to fail as a moral and valid law. ObamaTrade is just like ObamaCare.
What’s the harm in letting everyone knows what’s in ObamaTrade, if TPP is such a wonderful agreement? Celebrate it. Don’t hide it in the basement.
Is TPA and the Rest of the Alphabet Soup a Poison Pill for Free Trade?
It’s hard to tell what the actual terms and conditions are in TPP. But, here’s a sampling of concerns from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF):
Other issues raised by opponents include:
For More Information
For more information, please read my newest book Renewing America and It’s Heritage of Freedom.