Miles Report No. 14

Summer Collation: The TPP; Global warming; things you might not have read about on the web.

Trans Pacific Partnership

Just as the Multilateral Agreement on Investment MAI) was discussed in full secrecy before the actual workings of the agreement were leaked to the public, such also is the case with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Ostensibly, as with the MAI, it is supposed to be about free trade, but is truly about global governance.

Not global governance in a direct sense, but global governance behind the scenes. Governments of most nations, in particular in the ‘developed’ countries, have revolving doors between corporations, government, and the military. The TPP does not change this, but gives the corporations greater immunity from sovereign laws that try to protect the environment, workers’ rights and benefits, patent and copyright laws, and other social constructs.

With only two sections out of twenty-four looking at the supposed ‘free’ trade (If it were free, why so many regulations, why so many restrictions still on workers?), the other twenty-two sections discuss how the agreement is to be governed. And of course it is to be governed by the corporations.

Essentially it is an agreement that no law of any sovereign nation that has signed on will be able to reduce the potential profits made by corporations operating in some other jurisdiction. In short, if a company can earn so many dollars in one country, then they are able to earn that same amount in another country, free of restrictions or laws (environmental safety, workers’ safety et al) that would reduce that profit on a comparative basis. It becomes a race to the bottom. A similar set of rules is operating with NAFTA, with governments paying out over $330 million in taxpayers’ money to corporations whose expected profits may be reduced.

Further any disputes cannot be settled in sovereign countries courts but are to be settled through a tribunal consisting of corporate personnel who may or may not have the ‘expertise’ needed to argue a point, but certainly have the corporate power to support them. The corollary does not hold true, governments cannot sue corporations for whatever reason.

It may not be direct governance, but with the intertwining of corporations and governance in the western world, the Washington consensus countries of the EU/NATO, North America, Japan, and Australia, it simply strengthens the New World Order as wished for by many in the corporate world.

During the making of the MAI it was reported,

The MAI stands to transform governance around the world by literally replacing many roles now performed by governments with direct corporate rule. Included is the enforcement of international treaties. The MAI would thus confer on private investors and corporations the same rights and legal standing as national governments to enforce its terms.

Fourteen years later, the TPP is attempting pretty much the same thing. One of the directors of the OECD when asked about the MAI indicated that yes, they were “colluding in private” as "We are writing the constitution of a single global economy."

There is not much different this time around, although we can be assured that there will be even more stringently and carefully worded rules and regulations that protect the corporations in their role of harvesting the wealth of nations without concern for workers and citizens.

Global Warming

I hope you are all enjoying the record heat that different parts of the country have been having at different times. Here at home the temperature today was 34 degrees Celsius, which is quite normal for us this time of year.

There are many things that are not normal. In the contiguous United States, the average temperature was 2 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average, and the warmest twelve month period since record keeping has been the past twelve months and each consecutive month was in the top third of historical distribution. In mathematical probabilities based on historical data, this latter fact has a random probability of 1 in 1, 594,3232 in happening, described as ridiculously long odds.

56 per cent of the contiguous U.S. was under drought conditions as of July 03, 2012. Away from the contiguous U.S. the Arctic sea ice melt this year is continuing to be below the record low of 2007, while the remaining old ice (more than five years) has decreased significantly over the past decade.

As you all now, and as the deniers are want to say, weather events can be quite random, but recurring patterns that make climate have shown clear and distinct realities as proposed by climate scientists. More severe weather events have occurred in recent years in all parts of the world: heavier rains, larger more powerful storms, more severe droughts, resulting in more flooding, more destroyed crops, more structural damage than ever before.

So what is Canada doing? Weakening its environmental laws, and weakening its ability to monitor the situation as it disposes of scientific positions and muzzles the ability of others to speak about what they are doing. The government claims that it is working with research to create more jobs, but most research positions within corporations are militarily related to security and hardware.

So have a good warm summer, and do not worry about the climate, ‘cause really, it will look after itself, just not our best interests.