<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"><base href="x-msg://926/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">this is an important resource for OCCUPY to help push for PUBLIC BANKING as North Dakota did early 20th century and allows that state to be financially stable despite all.<div><br></div><div>Jessie Lee<br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>From: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Public Banking Institute <<a href="mailto:info@publicbankinginstitute.org">info@publicbankinginstitute.org</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><b>PBI Newsletter - TPP and Public Banks, Cyprus, Letter from a Vermont Farmer, and more...</b><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">March 29, 2013 6:04:44 AM PDT<br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Jessie Lee VanSant <<a href="mailto:vjessielee@gmail.com">vjessielee@gmail.com</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Reply-To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Public Banking Institute <<a href="mailto:info@publicbankinginstitute.org">info@publicbankinginstitute.org</a>><br></span></div><br><div leftmargin="0" marginwidth="0" topmargin="0" marginheight="0" offset="0" style="width: 625px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="100%" width="100%" id="backgroundTable" style="height: 26927px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 625px; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); "><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="50" id="colorBar" style="border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(89, 108, 141); border-right-width: 2px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); padding: 40px 5px; "><img src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/27aac8a65e64c994c4416d6b8/images/icon_envelope.png" height="40" width="40" style="border: 0px; height: auto; line-height: 14px; outline: none; text-decoration: none; "></td><td valign="top" width="535" id="templateContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(101, 123, 114); padding-left: 20px; "><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="templatePreheader"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="preheaderContent" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="345" style="border-collapse: collapse; padding: 15px 20px 15px 0px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; text-align: left; "><strong><span style="font-size: 14px; ">TPP and Public Banks, Cyprus, Letter from a Vermont Farmer, and more...</span></strong><br><br><span style="font-size: 14px; ">PBI Newsletter, March 2013, Edition #23</span><br></div></td><td valign="top" width="160" style="border-collapse: collapse; padding: 15px 0px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; text-align: left; ">Email not displaying correctly?<br><a href="http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=e30b05c50f&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; ">View it in your browser</a>.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="templateHeader" style="background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); 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"></a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="bodyContent" style="border-collapse: collapse; padding-top: 20px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left; "><h1 class="h1" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); display: block; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-size: 24px; ">Editor's Column -- Shifting Ground</span></h1>Two developments this past month are rapidly shifting long held beliefs about banking and markets. Many of us, until now, believed that deposits in a bank were owned by the depositors. Not true, as the events in Cyprus have so clearly indicated. As Ellen Brown describes below, while the bank account is held by the depositor, the money is actually owned by the bank. The depositor is merely an unsecured creditor with claims on the funds should the bank fail. The depositor will be in line with all other depositors, along with other creditors, including the banks that provided credit to the failed institution. Good luck with that.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="100%" id="templateBody" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="top" class="bodyContent" style="border-collapse: collapse; padding-top: 20px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left; ">The second development is the revelation that the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement draft will make all "local sourcing" purchasing clauses in government contracts illegal. Adding insult to injury, all government lending programs at below market rates will be illegal. We might as well say goodbye to the nascent "Buy Local" movement, a key tenant of the New Economy movement. TPP is clearly designed so that all expenditures on food, energy, healthcare, transportation and infrastructure development will be steered towards trans-national corporations, with all lending to be provided ONLY by the private banking sector. Showcased below is our Featured Article, written by Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese (speakers at our upcoming conference), on the vast implications of this TPP multilateral trade deal. After reading this, you'll understand why many of us scoff at the notion of a "free market." It's a rigged game, and TPP will make sure the trans-national corporations win.<br><br>The ground is shifting. Banks in Cyprus are now seizing depositors' money. The absolute power of corporations is now being further codified into law in the form of the TPP trade agreement. Both depositors' money and public institutions are being targeted. If this is not a wake-up call to your friends and family, what will be? <br><br>Please be sure to join us at our Public Banking 2013 Conference and Conversation, one of the few chances you'll get this year to learn more about these very important issues. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=85544e43d3&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Early bird registration</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>ends this Monday, April 1st.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Marc Armstrong<br>Executive Director<br>Public Banking Institute<br><a href="mailto:marc@publicbankinginstitute.org">marc@publicbankinginstitute.org</a><br>______________________________<br><br><span style="font-size: 18px; ">It Can Happen Here: The Confiscation Scheme Planned for US and UK Depositors</span><br><br>By<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=60160d183d&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Ellen Brown</a><br>Chair and President,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong>Public Banking Institute</strong><br><br>Confiscating the customer deposits in Cyprus banks, it seems, was not a one-off, desperate idea of a few Eurozone “troika” officials scrambling to salvage their balance sheets. A joint paper by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Bank of England dated December 10, 2012, shows that these plans have been long in the making; that they originated with the G20 Financial Stability Board in Basel, Switzerland (discussed earlier<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=86445991a2&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">here</a>); and that the result will be to deliver clear title to the banks of depositor funds. <br><br>New Zealand has a similar directive, discussed in my last article<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=aaa556a714&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">here</a>, indicating that this isn’t just an emergency measure for troubled Eurozone countries. New Zealand’s<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=644a938c1c&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Voxy reported</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>on March 19<sup>th</sup>:<br>The National Government [is] pushing a Cyprus-style solution to bank failure in New Zealand which will see small depositors lose some of their savings to fund big bank bailouts . . . .<br><br>Open Bank Resolution (OBR) is Finance Minister Bill English’s favoured option dealing with a major bank failure.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>If a bank fails under OBR, all depositors will have their savings reduced overnight to fund the bank’s bail out</em>.<br><br><strong>Can They Do That?</strong><br><br>Although few depositors realize it, legally the bank owns the depositor’s funds as soon as they are put in the bank. Our money becomes the bank’s, and we become unsecured creditors holding IOUs or promises to pay. (See<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=afe8f51ed3&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">here</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=a224c2d26b&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">here</a>.) But until now the bank has been obligated to pay the money back on demand in the form of cash. Under the FDIC-BOE plan, our IOUs will be converted into “bank equity.” The bank will get the money and we will get stock in the bank. With any luck we may be able to sell the stock to someone else, but when and at what price? Most people keep a deposit account so they can have ready cash to pay the bills.<br><br>The 15-page FDIC-BOE document is called “<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=699241d662&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Resolving Globally Active, Systemically Important, Financial Institutions</a>.” It begins by explaining that the 2008 banking crisis has made it clear that some other way besides taxpayer bailouts is needed to maintain “financial stability.” Evidently anticipating that the next financial collapse will be on a grander scale than either the taxpayers or Congress is willing to underwrite, the authors state:<br><br>An efficient path for returning the sound operations of the G-SIFI to the private sector would be provided by exchanging or converting a sufficient amount of the unsecured debt from the original creditors of the failed company [meaning the depositors] into equity [or stock]. In the U.S<em>., the new equity</em><em>would become capital in one or more newly formed operating entities</em>. In the U.K., the same approach could be used, or<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>the equity could be used to recapitalize the failing financial company itself</em>—thus, the highest layer of surviving bailed-in creditors would become the owners of the resolved firm. In either country<em>, the new equity holders would take on the corresponding risk of being shareholders in a financial institution</em>.<br><br>No exception is indicated for “insured deposits” in the U.S., meaning those under $250,000, the deposits we thought were protected by FDIC insurance. This can hardly be an oversight, since it is the FDIC that is issuing the directive. The FDIC is an insurance company funded by premiums paid by private banks. The directive is called a “resolution process,”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=577ecec79e&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">defined elsewhere as</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a plan that “would be triggered<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>in the event of the failure of an insurer</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>. . . .” The only mention of “insured deposits” is in connection with existing UK legislation, which the FDIC-BOE directive goes on to say is inadequate, implying that it needs to be modified or overridden. <br><br><strong>An Imminent Risk<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></strong><br><br>If our IOUs are converted to bank stock, they will no longer be subject to insurance protection but will be “at risk” and vulnerable to being wiped out, just as the Lehman Brothers shareholders were in 2008. That this dire scenario could actually materialize was underscored by Yves Smith in a March 19th post titled<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=57b83e1462&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">When You Weren’t Looking, Democrat Bank Stooges Launch Bills to Permit Bailouts, Deregulate Derivatives.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></a></strong>She writes:<br><br>In the US, depositors have actually been put in a worse position than Cyprus deposit-holders, at least if they are at the big banks that play in the derivatives casino. The regulators have turned a blind eye as<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>banks use their depositaries to fund derivatives exposures</em>. And as bad as that is, the depositors, unlike their Cypriot confreres, aren’t even senior creditors. Remember Lehman? When the investment bank failed, unsecured creditors (and remember,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>depositors are unsecured creditors</em>) got eight cents on the dollar. One big reason was that derivatives counterparties require collateral for any exposures, meaning they are secured creditors. The 2005 bankruptcy reforms made derivatives counterparties senior to unsecured lenders.<br><br>One might wonder why the posting of collateral by a derivative counterparty, at some percentage of full exposure, makes the creditor “secured,” while the depositor who puts up 100 cents on the dollar is “unsecured.” But moving on – Smith writes:<br><br>Lehman had only two itty bitty banking subsidiaries, and to my knowledge, was not gathering retail deposits. But as readers may recall, Bank of America moved most of its derivatives from its Merrill Lynch operation [to] its depositary in late 2011. <br><br>Its “depositary” is the arm of the bank that takes deposits; and at B of A, that means lots and lots of deposits. The deposits are now subject to being wiped out by a major derivatives loss. How bad could that be? Smith quotes Bloomberg:<br><br>. . . Bank of America’s holding company . . . held almost $75 trillion of derivatives at the end of June . . . .<br><br>That compares with JPMorgan’s deposit-taking entity, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, which contained 99 percent of the New York-based firm’s $79 trillion of notional derivatives, the OCC data show.<br>$75 trillion and $79 trillion in derivatives! These two mega-banks alone hold more in notional derivatives<em>each</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>than the entire global GDP (at $70 trillion). The “notional value” of derivatives is not the same as cash at risk, but according to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=9fbbba975e&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">a cross-post on Smith’s site</a>:<br><br>By at least one estimate, in 2010 there was a total of $12 trillion in cash tied up (at risk) in derivatives . . . .<br><br>$12 trillion is close to the US GDP. Smith goes on:<br><br>. . . Remember the effect of the 2005 bankruptcy law revisions: derivatives counterparties are first in line, they get to grab assets first and leave everyone else to scramble for crumbs. . . . Lehman failed over a weekend after JP Morgan grabbed collateral.<br><br>But it’s even worse than that. During the savings & loan crisis, the FDIC did not have enough in deposit insurance receipts to pay for the Resolution Trust Corporation wind-down vehicle. It had to get more funding from Congress. This move paves the way for another TARP-style shakedown of taxpayers, this time to save depositors.<br><br>Perhaps, but Congress has already been burned and is liable to balk a second time. Section 716 of the Dodd-Frank Act specifically prohibits public support for speculative derivatives activities. And in the Eurozone, while the European Stability Mechanism committed Eurozone countries to bail out failed banks, they are apparently having second thoughts there as well. On March 25<sup>th</sup>, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who played a leading role in imposing the deposit confiscation plan on Cyprus, told reporters that it would be<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=8aee700bde&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">the template for any future bank bailouts</a>, and that “<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=aa43196bf5&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">the aim is for the ESM</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>never to have to be used.”<br><br>That explains the need for the FDIC-BOE resolution. If the anticipated enabling legislation is passed, the FDIC will no longer need to protect depositor funds; it can just confiscate them.<br><br><strong>Worse Than a Tax</strong><br><br>An FDIC confiscation of deposits to recapitalize the banks is far different from a simple tax on taxpayers to pay government expenses. The government's debt is at least arguably the people’s debt, since the government is there to provide services for the people. But when the banks get into trouble with their derivative schemes, they are not serving depositors, who are not getting a cut of the profits. Taking depositor funds is simply theft.<br><br>What should be done is to raise FDIC insurance premiums and make the banks pay to keep their depositors whole, but premiums are already high; and the FDIC, like other government regulatory agencies, is<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=f2ad66ddcc&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">subject to regulatory capture</a>. Deposit insurance has failed, and so has the private banking system that has depended on it for the trust that makes banking work.<br><br>The Cyprus haircut on depositors was called a “wealth tax” and was written off by commentators as “deserved,” because much of the money in Cypriot accounts belongs to foreign oligarchs, tax dodgers and money launderers. But if that template is applied in the US, it will be a tax on the poor and middle class. Wealthy Americans don't keep most of their money in bank accounts. They keep it in the stock market, in real estate, in over-the-counter derivatives, in gold and silver, and so forth.<br><br>Are you safe, then, if your money is in gold and silver? Apparently not – if it’s stored in a safety deposit box in the bank. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=7543b61eba&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Homeland Security has reportedly told banks</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that it has authority to seize the contents of safety deposit boxes without a warrant when it’s a matter of “national security,” which a major bank crisis no doubt will be.<br><br><strong>The Swedish Alternative: Nationalize the Banks</strong><br><br>Another alternative was considered but rejected by President Obama in 2009: nationalize mega-banks that fail. In a February 2009 article titled "<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=e30f547b7b&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Are Uninsured Bank Depositors in Danger?</a>", Felix Salmon discussed a newsletter by Asia-based investment strategist Christopher Wood, in which Wood wrote:<br><br>It is . . . amazing that Obama does not understand the political appeal of the nationalization option. . . . [D]espite this latest setback nationalization of the banks is coming sooner or later because the realities of the situation will demand it. The result will be shareholders wiped out and bondholders forced to take debt-for-equity swaps, if not hopefully depositors.<br><br>On whether depositors could indeed be forced to become equity holders, Salmon commented:<br><br>It’s worth remembering that depositors <em>are</em> unsecured creditors of any bank; usually, indeed, they’re by far the largest class of unsecured creditors.<br><br>President Obama acknowledged that bank nationalization had worked in Sweden, and that the course pursued by the US Fed had not worked in Japan, which wound up instead in a "lost decade." But Obama opted for the Japanese approach because,<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=53efd816a6&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">according to Ed Harrison</a>, “Americans will not tolerate nationalization.”<br><br>But that was four years ago. When Americans realize that the alternative is to have their ready cash transformed into “bank stock” of questionable marketability, moving failed mega-banks into the public sector may start to have more appeal.<br><br><em>Ellen Brown is an attorney, chairman of the Public Banking Institute, and the author of eleven books, including</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=687bf6581a&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free</a><em>. Her websites are<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=d89f6be3ae&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">webofdebt.com</a></em><em>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=5ed91db059&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">ellenbrown.com</a></em><em>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em>For details of the June 2013 Public Banking Institute conference in San Rafael, California, see<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=666455ca22&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">here</a>.<br><br><span style="font-size: 18px; ">_________________________</span><br><br><h3 style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); display: block; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-size: 18px; ">Featured Article: TransPacific Partnership Will Undermine Democracy, Empower Transnational Corporations</span></h3>by Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese<br><em>Originally published in</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=7d012d146b&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; "><em>Truthout</em></a><br> <br><em>Our country's democratic values could be under threat if President Obama fast tracks the Trans-Pacific Partnership.</em><br><br>On critical issues, the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being negotiated in secret by the Obama administration will<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=82b00e9955&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">undermine democracy</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in the United States and around the world and further empower transnational corporations. It will circumvent protections for health care, wages, labor rights, consumers' rights and the environment, and decrease regulation of big finance and risky investment practices.<br><br>The only way this treaty, which will be very unpopular with the American people once they are aware of it, can be approved is if the Obama administration avoids the democratic process by using an authority known as "Fast Track," which limits the constitutional checks and balances of Congress.<br><br>If the TPP is approved, the sovereignty of the United States and other member nations will be dissipated by trade tribunals that favor corporate power and force national laws to be subservient to corporate interests.<br><br><strong>Circumventing the Checks and Balances of US Democracy</strong><br><br>President<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=2cc35ad880&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Nixon first developed the idea of "Fast Track"</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in 1973 as a way to secure Congressional approval of trade agreements, and it has been a key to passing many unpopular agreements such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and NAFTA. As people have caught on to the offshoring of jobs and other detrimental consequences of these agreements, civil society now understands how important it is to not allow a president to circumvent the democratic role of Congress. Fast Track expired in 2007, so President Obama must have it re-instated in order to pass the TPP. His administration is moving to have Fast Track approved and hopes it will happen by this summer.<br><br>Under Fast Track, the president was allowed to negotiate and sign trade agreements with whatever countries the executive branch selected - all before Congress voted on the agreement. Fast Track meant that the Congressional committee processes were circumvented and the executive branch was empowered to write lengthy implementing legislation for each trade pact without Congress. These executive-only authored bills required US law to conform to the trade agreement. For example,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=341c6a5222&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Glass-Steagall</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>had to be repealed under President Clinton to conform to the WTO. And, Fast Track empowered the president to submit the executive-branch written bill for a mandatory vote within a set number of days, with all amendments forbidden, normal Senate rules waived, and debate limited in both chambers of Congress. Fast Track clearly undermined democracy.<br><br>Indeed, Fast Track turned the US Constitution on its head. Under Article I Section 8, Congress has exclusive authority "to regulate commerce with foreign nations" and to "lay and collect taxes [and] duties." Under the Constitution, the president is empowered to negotiate treaties, but Congress must vote to approve them. Thus, Fast Track took constitutional power from Congress and prevented the checks and balances needed to prevent an imperial presidency.<br><br>For most of the history of the United States, treaties and trade agreements went through the normal congressional process described in the Constitution. Fast Track is a relatively new concept that coincides with an era of increasing presidential power, which includes the power to declare war and to murder US citizens without warning or judicial oversight. If Congress had reviewed agreements such as the WTO and NAFTA beforehand and civil society had been able to participate in a democratic process, would the United States have made the mistake of passing these laws that have so injured our economy and others?<br><br>Fast Track is very unpopular, so now President Obama and others who advocate for it do not use the term. Instead they call it by the euphemism "Trade Promotion Authority." But changing the name does not change what it is - a method of ceding the constitutional power of Congress and undermining the checks and balances built into the constitutional framework.<br><br>Congress needs to consider what agreements such as the TPP will do to jobs, trade balances and the environment. Since Nixon, Fast Track has been used by presidents to go way beyond trade and tariffs. These<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=bd4eb6c608&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">agreements have been used to change US law</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by establishing "rules related to domestic environmental, health, safety and essential-service regulations, including deregulation of financial services; establishment of immigration policies; creation of limits on local development and land-use policy; extension of domestic patent terms; establishment of new rights and greater protections for foreign investors operating within the United States that extend beyond US law; and even limitation of how domestic procurement dollars may be spent." Thus, not only has the constitutional power of Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations been undermined, but a whole host of domestic laws have been rewritten to satisfy international trade.<br><br><strong>The TPP Undermines US Law, Prevents Progressive Policy Around the World</strong><br><br>The TPP is much broader than the usual trade agreement and will impact many aspects of society from the Internet to health care to regulation of risky bank speculation. For this reason alone, it is especially important to have a transparent, public debate on the agreement. The TPP contains 26 chapters, but only five of them concern traditional trade issues. The TPP has been negotiated in secret except for over<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=05676d3c39&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">600 corporate representatives</a>who have been advising the US trade representative on its language. In Washington, DC<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=dff18cf0b9&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">K Street lobby firms have been getting involved</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in the process, including pushing for Fast Track. Many of those corporations that have failed to get what they want from Congress are now getting their way through the secret back door of the TPP.<br><br>Though the TPP negotiations are being conducted in secrecy, portions of the text have been leaked. Here is what is known about some of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=26525a1e88&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">key issues that the TPP will affect</a>:<br><br><strong>Prevent Buy America Manufacturing Preferences:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The TPP's procurement chapter<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=6ad46e3a46&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">ends 'Buy America' preferences</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by requiring that all firms operating in any signatory country are provided equal access to US government procurement contracts over a certain dollar threshold, the same access that domestic firms have. To implement this, the United States would agree to waive "Buy America" procurement policies.<br><br><strong>Undermine Environmental Laws and Regulations:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Similarly, governments who are seeking to encourage localization and green manufacturing through procurement preferences will be stopped. A recent example involved Ontario, Canada, which has employed a renewable energy program that requires energy generators to source solar cells and wind turbines from local businesses so as to cultivate a robust supply of green goods, services and jobs. The program has earned acclaim for its early success in generating 4,600 megawatts of renewable energy and 20,000 green jobs. But, the WTO ruled that this violated WTO rules. In another case<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=2bd35d0f45&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">, a US company Lone Pine Resources is suing the Canadian government</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>under NAFTA for more than $250 million due to lost profits from Quebec's moratorium on fracking, which prevents Lone Pine from fracking under the St. Lawrence River. This is<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=16e125608e&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">not an isolated incident</a>:<br><blockquote>. . . corporations such as Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Dow Chemical, and Cargill have launched 450 investor-state cases against 89 governments, including the United States. Over $700 million has been paid to corporations under US free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties, about 70 percent of which are from challenges to natural resource and environment policies. Corporations have launched attacks on a range of public interest and environmental regulations, including bans or phase-outs of toxic chemicals, timber regulations, permitting rules for mines, green jobs and renewable energy programs, and more.</blockquote><strong>Undermine Internet Freedom:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=832846ec8c&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Electronic Freedom Foundation</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(EFF) argues that the intellectual property chapter (see the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=900a7f0f17&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">February 2011 draft US TPP IP Rights Chapter [PDF]</a>) would have extensive negative ramifications for users' freedom of speech, right to privacy and due process, and hinder peoples' abilities to innovate. Its provision on copyrights will adversely affect the creator's ability to create content, the ability of technology companies to make innovative products, and the ability of users to use content in new ways. EFF summarizes the attack on Internet freedom by the TPP, writing:<br><blockquote>In short, countries would have to abandon any efforts to learn from the mistakes of the US and its experience with the DMCA over the last 12 years, and adopt many of the most controversial aspects of US copyright law in their entirety. At the same time, the US IP chapter does not export the limitations and exceptions in the US copyright regime like fair use, which have enabled freedom of expression and technological innovation to flourish in the US. It includes only a placeholder for exceptions and limitations. This raises serious concerns about other countries' sovereignty and the ability of national governments to set laws and policies to meet their domestic priorities.</blockquote><strong>Destroy Food and Agriculture:</strong><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=b87eaacc3f&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Agriculture trade rules</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>have both undermined US producers' ability to earn a fair price for their crops at home and in the global marketplace. Multinational grain-trading and food-processing firms have made enormous profits, while farmers on both ends have been hurt. The results are that hunger is projected to increase, along with illicit drug cultivation, and undocumented migration.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=23e1e2672f&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Dairy farmers fear the TPP could decimate the US dairy industry</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and have urged Congress to refuse to Fast Track it. Failure to establish new agriculture terms would intensify the race to the bottom in commodity prices, pitting farmer against farmer and nation against nation to see who can produce food the cheapest, regardless of labor, environment or food-safety standards. Regarding food safety, current trade agreements contain language requiring the United States to accept imported food that does not meet our domestic safety standards and limiting inspection of imported foods and products. The TPP is expected to continue these practices.<br><br><strong>Prevent Health, Safety, Environment, Consumer and Labor Laws:</strong><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=0bd9356a93&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">According to leaked documents, the TPP contains provisions</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with special rights for corporations. The provisions protect investors by providing them with compensation for loss of "expected future profits" from health, labor, environmental and other laws. The negative effect is that nations will not pass laws that threaten corporate profits in order to avoid lawsuits and heavy fines. Court cases in which corporations are suing governments over laws and regulations that cause loss of expected profit will be tried before a trade tribunal of three judges. These judges can include corporate lawyers on temporary leave from their corporate job while they serve as judges.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=fcf4a0c576&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Global Trade Watch reports</a>that under previous trade agreements "Over $3 billion has been paid to foreign investors under US trade and investment pacts, while over $14 billion in claims are pending under such deals, primarily targeting environmental, energy, and public health policies." The right to sue governments will create a hurdle for governments considering actions to protect workers, consumers, health and the environment.<br><br><strong>Privatize Health Care and Make it Unaffordable:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=c2db0d6d37&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Leaked documents show</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that the US Trade Representative is pressuring TPP member countries to expand pharmaceutical monopoly protections, which essentially trade away access to medicines. In a recent letter,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=0762917af0&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Doctors Without Borders wrote</a>that the TPP will be "the most harmful trade deal ever for access to medicines in developing countries." The TPP does this damage by inflating pharmaceutical prices through lengthy patent protections, as Doctors Without Borders writes:<br><blockquote>One proposed TPP provision would require governments to grant new 20-year patents for modifications of existing medicines, such as a new forms, uses or methods, even without improvement of therapeutic efficacy for patients. Another provision would make it more expensive and cumbersome to challenge undeserved or invalid patents; and yet another would add additional years to a patent term to compensate for administrative processes. Taken together, these and other provisions will add up to more years of high-priced medicines at the expense of people needing treatment waiting longer for access to affordable generics.</blockquote>There is also concern that the TPP will force public health systems to open up their medication programs to pharmaceutical corporations giving them greater access and greater control over the price of medications, effectively destroying the ability of the public health system to negotiate for a low price. The same may occur with public health systems in the US such as<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=23cd56fe60&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare and the Veterans Health Administration</a>, making medications more expensive and potentially out of reach for their patient populations.<br><br>In addition, countries that provide health care through a national public health program, rather than a market-based system dominated by for-profit insurance, are threatened by provisions that oppose state-owned enterprises. Corporations view state provision of services as unfair competition and therefore a violation of free trade. This will make it more difficult for the United States to adopt a single-payer health system, and it will make it more difficult for countries with such systems to protect them from privatization and health insurance domination.<br><br>Prevent Public Banks and Banking Regulation: These same provisions about state-owned enterprises will affect<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=803ebb2330&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">public banking</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>too. North Dakota is the only state in the US to have a public state bank, although over a dozen states and cities are considering them. Public banks are used to hold taxes that are collected, administer payroll for public employees and provide loans for public projects. The advantage is that all public dollars are managed in a public institution rather than having to pay fees and interest to a private bank. But the TPP would consider public banks to have unfair advantages and therefore violate free trade.<br><br>And trade agreements protect big finance by (1) preventing regulation of the finance industry by locking in a model of extreme financial service deregulation; and (2) allowing capital to move in and out of countries without restrictions. This prevents countries from controlling the flow of capital, which has many negative consequences. Over 100 economists wrote trade representatives urging them to ensure that the TPP, unlike other trade agreements, will allow governments to control and regulate capital without the threat of investor lawsuits, writing:<br><blockquote>Authoritative research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the International Monetary Fund, and other institutions has found that limits on short-term capital flows can stem the development of dangerous asset bubbles and currency appreciations, grant nations more autonomy in monetary policy-making, and protect nations from the dangers of abrupt capital flight.<br><em>See<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=eafb5ff58b&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">102 Economists Issue Statement on Capital Controls and TPP</a></em></blockquote>Thus, the TPP and other corporate trade agreements will undermine the ability of governments to regulate health, safety, labor, environment and finance. The 600 corporate advisers to the TPP see this as an opportunity to do an end-run around laws and policies that they have been unable to put into effect through the normal democratic process. This is why the TPP is being called a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=ec2ae78982&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">global corporate coup</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that makes corporations more powerful than governments.<br><br><strong>Corporate Trade Agreements Hurt the US Economy</strong><br><br>The evidence is stark that so-called 'free' trade agreements, really corporate trade agreements, are bad for the US economy.<br><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=cc16350825&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Newly-released government trade data</a>for 2012 show job-eroding US trade deficits have ballooned in countries with which the US has a corporate trade agreement and have declined in the rest of the world. The numbers are stark. In countries where the US has a trade agreement, the trade deficit has grown by more than 440 percent, while in countries where there is no agreement, the deficit has declined by 7 percent. In fact,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=b9470da19c&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">the aggregate US trade deficit</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with trade-agreement partners is more than five times higher than it was before the deals went into effect, while the aggregate deficit with non-trade-agreement countries has actually fallen slightly.<br><br>And, this means a tremendous loss of jobs. Using the Obama administration's net exports-to-jobs<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=fe1a432a63&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">ratio</a>, the FTA trade deficit surge means the loss of nearly one million American jobs. <br><br>We should have learned this lesson from NAFTA because what we are seeing with corporate trade agreements since NAFTA is more of the same. Under NAFTA, the US deficit with Canada ballooned and the small US surplus with Mexico turned into a $100 billion-plus deficit.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=80a088cf19&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">As a result of NAFTA, the United States lost 692,000 jobs</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>according to the Economic Policy Institute.<br><br>But, instead of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=2d32612c17&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">learning from NAFTA</a>, President Obama pushed a trade agreement with South Korea, promising it would result in economic benefits for the United States. One year has now passed since the Korean trade agreement was put into effect and the US ended up with the same result as it experienced with NAFTA.<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=247000faed&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Eyes on Trade reports</a>:<br><blockquote><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=9af9a64e4f&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">US goods exports to Korea have dropped</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>9 percent (a $3.2 billion decrease) since the Korea FTA took effect, in comparison to the same months in the year before FTA implementation. US imports from Korea have climbed 2 percent (an $800 million increase). The US trade deficit with Korea has swelled 30 percent (a $4 billion increase). The January data from the US International Trade Commission show that the US trade deficit with Korea skyrocketed 81 percent above December's level, topping $2.4 billion – the largest monthly US trade deficit with Korea on record. The ballooning trade deficit indicates the loss of tens of thousands of US jobs."</blockquote>Exports are not as robust as advocates of trade agreements would like to believe. Between 2002 and 2012, US exports to trade-agreement partner countries grew annually at a rate of only 4.8 percent, while exports to non-trade-agreement countries grew at 6.6 percent per year on average. This has only<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=9061b8064b&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">worsened with the passage of the Central America Free Trade Agreement</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(CAFTA) in 2005, which nearly doubled the number of trade-agreement countries. Since then, average US export growth to non-trade-agreement countries has topped average export growth to trade-agreement partners by 46 percent.<br><br>Advocates for corporate trade agreements<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=068740b215&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>manipulate statistics in order to make a false claim of economic benefit</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>from the agreements. They create obvious falsehoods by not counting many major trade agreements put in place before 2003. This would exclude big agreements like NAFTA, count "re-exports" - goods made elsewhere that are shipped through the United States en route to a final destination, omit imports in their calculations so people do not see the trade imbalance, and not correct for inflation in order to exaggerate exports.<br><br>Sadly, rather than being honest about the failure of corporate trade, the Obama administration works overtime to mislead the public. The recently released<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=32c04258de&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">2012 annual trade report</a>leaves out critical details from the very beginning.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=d4376a2ebd&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Eyes on Trade analyzes</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the Obama report:<br><blockquote>Take the first sentence: 'Trade is helping to drive the success of President Obama's strategy to grow the US economy and support jobs for more Americans.' Almost makes you forget that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=9123b2895c&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">last year's non-oil trade deficit rose to a five-year high</a>, implying the loss of millions of jobs, doesn't it? How about the second sentence: 'The Obama Administration's trade policy helps US exporters gain access to billions of customers beyond our borders to support economic growth in the United States and in markets worldwide.' That's an interesting way to frame a year whose sluggish two percent export growth rate put us<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=2158eaec06&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">18 years behind schedule</a>in achieving Obama's export-doubling goal."</blockquote><strong>Time for a Democratic Revolt Against the TPP</strong><br><br>A unique feature of the TPP is that it contains a "docking agreement." This means that other countries can sign onto the agreement after it has been negotiated as long as they are willing to accept the previously negotiated terms. The US started the negotiations with allies such as Australia and New Zealand and a number of small countries such as Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Chile and Peru. Larger countries are able to force smaller, more desperate countries to accept terms that are detrimental to them. As more countries sign on, the TPP could become an agreement that defines global trade.<br>The TPP has gone through 16 rounds of negotiations in almost total secrecy. Some portions of the text have been leaked, but most remain secret. Throughout the process more than 600 corporate advisers have been working with the US Trade Representative in shaping the proposals and specific language of the text. Civil society has only been marginally involved, not provided drafts and ushered into<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=22e5586f2d&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">stakeholder meetings</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>where they can ask questions but only receive vague answers.<br><br>Despite this effort at secrecy, civil society groups have been getting organized to oppose the TPP, stop Fast Track and prevent the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=207ae8a191&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">global corporate coup.</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>More than 400 organizations, including our own organization,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=3328258030&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">It's Our Economy</a>, representing a diverse range of issues including labor, environment, public health, famers, Internet freedom, banking regulation, human rights, faith, Native American and much more, have signed on to a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=abd1977c28&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">letter to Congress</a> emphasizing how the TPP negotiations have been "inconsistent with democratic principles," opposing Fast Track and outlining expectations of how key issues should be addressed in 21st century trade agreements.<br><br><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=03aa8716fa&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Citizens Trade Campaign summarizes writing</a>: "The letter includes eight broad categories that the TPP, a Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement and any other US trade pact must address in order to improve quality of life for Americans and people throughout the world: (1) prioritization of human and labor rights; (2) respect for local development goals and the procurement policies that deliver on them; (3) no elevation of corporations to equal terms with governments; (4) protection of food sovereignty; (5) maintaining access to affordable medication; (6) safeguards against currency manipulation; (7) space for robust financial regulations and public services; and (8) improved consumer and environmental standards."<br><br>On February 27, the AFL-CIO released an<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=7b5083ec92&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">executive council statement</a>questioning the TPP saying "The United States cannot afford another trade agreement that hollows out our industrial base and adds to our substantial trade deficit." The executive council of the AFL-CIO went on to say, "We do not need another trade deal that simply boosts corporate profits by encouraging offshoring good jobs while undermining wages, benefits and worker rights. We must do better." Americans have clearly learned the lessons of previous trade agreements - they only work for the transnational corporations and oligarchs around the world, they undermine workers, and spur lower wages and environmental destruction.<br><br><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=9cc4c6de85&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Arthur Stamoulis of Citizens Trade Campaign summarizes the antidemocratic actions of the Obama</a>administration with regard to the TPP saying, "This is a rollback in transparency, and an extremely undemocratic way to craft policy that is likely to influence jobs, health care costs, financial regulations, consumer safety, the environment and more for decades to come. The only way to prevent the public from being saddled with a bad agreement is for Congress to exert its authority."<br><br>The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=fc5be6119e&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">TPP is the battleground for defining democracy</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in the 21<sup>st</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>century and setting up the rules for international commerce in the era of transnational corporate power. No matter what issues you are concerned about, if the TPP becomes law, it will undermine national sovereignty and hopes for progressive policies that put the people's needs before corporate profits. The time is now to get active, work to oppose the antidemocratic Fast Track approach in Congress and say "no" to the democracy-undermining Trans-Pacific Partnership. This is a trade agreement that will be opposed by most Americans and a battle on which the people can prevail, but only if they know it exists.<br><br><em>For more information and to get involved, visit:</em><br><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=a2770e8198&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">The Citizens Trade Campaign</a><br><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=de3666d8a9&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch</a><br><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=9714d94838&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Eyes on Trade</a><br><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=331cf3a09c&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Flush The TPP</a><br><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=bd7539d30a&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Truthout</a><br><br><em>Kevin Zeese JD and Margaret Flowers MD co-host ClearingtheFOGRadio.org on We Act Radio 1480 AM Washington, DC and on Economic Democracy Media, co-direct It's Our Economy and are organizers of the Occupation of Washington, DC. Their twitters are @KBZeese and @MFlowers8. They will be featured at the Public Banking 2013 conference June 2-4, 2013, in San Rafael, CA; details <a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=a750c582f7&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">here</a>.</em><br><span style="font-size: 18px; ">_________________________</span></div></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="150" style="border-collapse: collapse; padding-right: 20px; "><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="leftColumnContent"><tbody><tr mc:repeatable="repeat_1" mc:repeatindex="0" mc:hideable="hideable_repeat_1_1" mchideable="hideable_repeat_1_1"><td valign="top" style="border-collapse: collapse; padding-top: 20px; "><img src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/653153ae841fd11de66ad181a/images/transparent.gif" alt="" border="0" style="border: 0px; height: auto; line-height: 14px; outline: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left; "></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td><td valign="top" width="150" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="rightColumnContent"><tbody><tr mc:repeatable="repeat_2" mc:repeatindex="0" mc:hideable="hideable_repeat_2_1" mchideable="hideable_repeat_2_1"><td valign="top" style="border-collapse: collapse; padding-top: 20px; "><img src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/653153ae841fd11de66ad181a/images/transparent.gif" alt="" border="0" style="border: 0px; height: auto; line-height: 14px; outline: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left; "></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td><td valign="top" width="200" id="templateSidebar" style="border-collapse: collapse; padding-top: 20px; padding-left: 20px; "><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="180"><tbody><tr mc:repeatable="repeat_3" mc:repeatindex="0"><td valign="top" class="sidebarContent" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 20px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center; "><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=1052d9fce0&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; "><img src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659/images/michael_hudson.jpg" alt="" border="0" width="180" height="270" style="border: 0px none; height: 270px; line-height: 12px; outline: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline; width: 180px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; max-width: 180px; "></a></div><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; "><strong><em>Michael Hudson<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=ef36e1f433&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">interviewed</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by Paul Jay on Public Banking on <a href="http://TheRealNews.com">TheRealNews.com</a>.<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=a2f2ddcb9f&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">10min video</a>.</em><br><br>In this Newsletter</strong><br><ul><li><strong>Editor's Column</strong></li><li><strong>It Can Happen Here: The Confiscation Scheme Planned for US and UK Depositors</strong></li><li><strong>Featured Article: TransPacific Partnership Will Undermine Democracy, Empower Transnational Corporations</strong></li><li><strong>Upcoming Events (sidebar)</strong></li><li><strong>Public Banking in the News (sidebar)</strong></li><li><strong>Letter from a Vermont Farmer (sidebar)</strong></li><li><strong>Corporate-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership Shrouded in Secrecy</strong><strong>(sidebar)</strong></li></ul><br><strong><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=ee6ab2dc2b&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; "><img align="none" height="250" src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659/images/finalsquare.jpg" width="250" style="border: 0px; height: 250px; line-height: 12px; outline: none medium; text-decoration: none; display: inline; width: 250px; "></a></strong><br><h4 style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); display: block; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left; "> </h4><h4 style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); display: block; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-size: 12px; ">Early Bird Registration Ends April 1st. <a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=213f205ac2&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Register here</a>.<br><br>Conference Links:<br><br>List of speakers<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=a1036fe06a&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">here</a>.<br>Become a partner or sponsor of Public Banking 2013.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=94542e3f00&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Find out how</a>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br><span style="font-size: 12px; ">Do you wish to attend but are short on cash? Well then,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="mailto:info@publicbankinginstitute.org?subject=I%20want%20to%20Volunteer%20for%20Public%20Banking%202013" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 12px; ">volunteer</a><span style="font-size: 12px; "> before and during the conference -- and help make this a success!</span><br><span style="font-size: 12px; ">We have a high quality hotel at excellent rates. </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=eb384dabb1&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 12px; ">Reserve now</a><span style="font-size: 12px; "><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>before rates go up.</span><br><span style="font-size: 12px; ">Everything you need to know about the conference is<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=46b23a9372&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 12px; ">here</a><span style="font-size: 12px; ">. Evening tickets<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=c5cb66e8ca&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">as low as $35</a>.<br><br>Public Banking Coalition Update:</span></h4><h4 style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); display: block; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left; "><br><span style="font-size: 12px; ">These are the Public Banking Coalition state chapters and affiliates registered to-date, to be announced at Public Banking 2013: Colorado, Washington, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Washington D.C. Don't see your state? Get organized -- contact Marc Armstrong at <a href="mailto:info@publicbankinginstitute.org">info@publicbankinginstitute.org</a>. Counties will be announced, too, but be sure you notify Marc Armstrong!</span></h4><h4 style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); display: block; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left; ">_____________________<br><br>Upcoming Events</h4><ul><li><strong>Apr 1</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>-- Interview with Margaret Flowers, Progressive Radio Network, 11:45am EDT (Ellen Brown)</li><li><strong>Apr 2</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>-- Interview with Jay Taylor, VoiceAmerica, 12:30 PDT (Ellen Brown)</li><li><b>Apr 6 --<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=e9b1d0f88b&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Public Banking Conference Call</a>, hosted by the Justice Party, 9am PDT, Noon EDT (Rocky Anderson and Ellen Brown) -- BE SURE TO REGISTER!</li><li><b>Apr 12</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>--<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=f2f8c27628&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Get Organized! Starting Your Public Banking Coalition Chapter</a>, Monthly 9AM PDT Conference Call (Marc Armstrong) -- BE SURE TO REGISTER BY CLICKING ON LINK!</li><li><strong>Apr 18</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>-- Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley (Ellen Brown)</li><li><strong>Jun 2</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>--<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=f877fdc522&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Public Banking 2013</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Funding the New Economy Conversation (tickets available separately from Conference)</li><li><strong>Jun 2-4</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>--<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=eb219cccc7&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Public Banking 2013</a>Funding the New Economy Conference</li></ul></div></td></tr><tr mc:repeatable="repeat_3" mc:repeatindex="1"><td valign="top" class="sidebarContent" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 20px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center; "><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=4976824aaa&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; "><img src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659/images/logo_narrow.3.4.1.1.1b53646.png" alt="" border="0" width="110" height="110" style="border: 0px none; height: 110px; line-height: 12px; outline: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline; width: 110px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; max-width: 180px; "></a></div><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; "><h4 style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); display: block; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; ">Public Banking<em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in the News</em></h4><br><em>Huffington Post</em>, "<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=a7f35c893f&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Yes, We Can Have Banks That Work For The People</a>," Richard (RJ) Eskow, March 28, 2013<br><br><em>Central Penn Business Journal,</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=a6c8b4094e&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Panelists at F&M forum advocate for local financing</a>,” Tim Stuhldreher, March 27, 2013<br><br><span style="font-size: 12px; "><em>Truth Out</em>, “<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=ac1b104d28&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">TransPacific Partnership Will Undermine Democracy, Empower Transnational Corporations</a>,” Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, March 27, 2013</span><br><br><span style="font-size: 12px; "><em>Washington Post</em>, “<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=4b502a6a82&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">BRICS Nations Plan Development Bank to Build Massive Infrastructure, Challenge to World Bank</a>,” Associated Press, March 27, 2013</span><br><br><span style="font-size: 12px; "><em><a href="http://Phillyburbs.com">Phillyburbs.com</a></em>, “<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=3687c2962e&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">’Be Afraid’: Pirates in Pinstripes</a>,” Mike Krauss, March 24, 2013</span><br><br><span style="font-size: 12px; "><em>Truth Out, "</em><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=c5ea183ea1&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">A Safe and a Shotgun or Public Sector Banks, The Battle of Cyprus</a>," Ellen Brown, March 22, 2013</span><br><br><span style="font-size: 12px; "><em>Truth Out,</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=39cb94e2c0&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Corporate-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership Shrouded in Secrecy</a>,” Sam Knight, March 19, 2013</span><br><br><span style="font-size: 12px; "><em>OpEdNews</em>, “<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=bb73aa9c0d&e=856575db77" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Money for the People: Grillo’s Populist Plan for Italy</a>,” Ellen Brown, March 8, 2013</span><br><br><em>Truth Out, "</em><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=95466ec913&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">The Financial Instrument That Could Save The Economy...</a>," Ellen Brown, February 24, 2013</div></td></tr><tr mc:repeatable="repeat_3" mc:repeatindex="2"><td valign="top" class="sidebarContent" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 20px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center; "><img src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659/images/VermontWallStreet.jpg" alt="" border="0" width="180" height="180" style="border: 0px none; height: 180px; line-height: 12px; outline: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline; width: 180px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; max-width: 180px; "></div><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; "><em>Courtesy,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=28c6e9c9b0&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Gwendolyn Hallsmith</a></em><br><br><strong>A Farmer’s Plea For a State-owned Bank in Vermont</strong><br>by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:ignvilla@gmail.com" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Ignatio Villa</a><br>Waitsfield, Vermont<br><br><em>Editor's Note: This month I had the opportunity to spend over a week in New England, with much of the time spent in Vermont. The commonsense approach to public banking displayed by the citizens and governing officials was a source of inspiration. "Why pay interest to Wall Street bankers when we could pay it to ourselves?</em>"<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>was a common refrain. Labor leaders promoted the idea that debt servicing costs should undergo as much scrutiny as labor costs. And citizens</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>were pushing back on doing business as usual -- enriching Wall Street bankers at the expense of the public was no longer acceptable. I thought that this letter, written in support of the newly formed Vermont Coalition for the New Economy, perfectly captures the spirit of both the New Economy and the support for public banking.</em><br><br>In Vermont, we have all been thinking outside the box. Let's keep doing it and create a new economy. I moved to Vermont 3 years ago to work on an exciting piece of that new economy: a small dairy farm starting to add value to its milk by making cheese. I added another value added enterprise to this system, whey fed pigs. Our pigs use by-products from three value added, artisanal enterprises: cheese, beer, and bread. This, in my view, is part of the new economy. One that seeks to create wealth from the sunshine we harvest here in our own state, which mixed with our labor, our ingenuity, and people who appreciate what we do and are willing to buy our products, make for a good model of a new economy.<br> <br>In giving up a higher paying job to do this, I took a significant risk that I may not be able to support myself. I tell my friends that I retired into poverty, into one of the lowest paid professions: growing food. However, I keep hoping that I am doing the right thing, and that sooner or later I will be rewarded financially. I’m already reaping other rewards - I love what I do, and I know it is the right thing for myself, for my neighbors, for the community, for the state, and, at the risk of being presumptuous, for the planet.<br> <br>Vermont has been a wonderful place to take on this initiative. There is support for what I am doing everywhere I go. I have received help in the business planning process, I have received help from legal counsel for the creation of the business, and I have had nothing but encouragement from the state agencies and their staffs. If there is a good place to work on the pieces of a new economy, it has to be Vermont.<br> <br>It is exciting for me to discover that in Vermont we are giving serious consideration to the creation of a state owned bank, much like the one and only model offered by North Dakota. It appears that I was not alone in my limited understanding of how the money supply is managed globally, and how important it could be for Vermont to be able to create its own alternative means of supporting the right kind of economic activity. It is the beauty of our size that before long, we all seem to know each other, or of each other.<br> <br>The creation of a new state bank is just one more example of how a small and creative bunch of people can give leadership for new ways of doing things... We can be nimble, we can be creative, and in the end, others might follow. Not that being first is what matters, but it does matter that we are dealing with things that are urgent. We need to respond to the urgent needs of the people, to the urgent need to create a new economy that benefits the people and keeps the wealth that we generate where it belongs, where it can, to the extent that it may, contribute to a higher quality of life.<br> <br>I am writing this to ask our legislators to move swiftly towards the creation of Vermont's state-owned bank. I see it as a benefit for small farmers in the state in a couple of important ways. First, the bank’s capital will enable the small banks in our communities to accept deposits of municipal taxes, which will give them more funds to lend to small businesses. Second, by reducing the money we are paying out of state in the capital markets, we’ll have more money for important state budget needs like health care reform. As a small entrepreneur, this is one of the most important services the state can provide to support the small business sector. <br><br><em>Editor's Note: As currently understood, TPP will prohibit the funding of the new economy by any government entity that provides loans at below market rates. It will also prohibit any "Buy American" or "local sourcing" clauses in government purchase contracts. Support the Public Banking Institute as we seek to establish public banks in Vermont and throughout the United States in order to support our local economies. These banks will be transparent, accountable, and act in the public interest.</em> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=fe2963a67c&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Donate today.</a></div></td></tr><tr mc:repeatable="repeat_3" mc:repeatindex="3"><td valign="top" class="sidebarContent" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 20px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center; "><img src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659/images/kickstarter_graphic.jpg" alt="" border="0" width="180" height="135" style="border: 0px none; height: 135px; line-height: 12px; outline: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline; width: 180px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; max-width: 180px; "></div><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; "><br><h4 style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); display: block; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; "><em>Corporate-Backed Trans-Pacific Partnership Shrouded in Secrecy</em></h4><br><div class="block heading" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; "><div class="h3" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; "><strong><span style="font-size: 14px; ">Sam Knight</span></strong><br><em><span style="font-size: 14px; ">Originally published in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=7a06433b67&e=856575db77" target="_self" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Truthout</a></span></em></div></div><div class="block text" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; "><div class="text" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; ">The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a multilateral trade deal currently being hammered out by the United States and ten other countries, could end up affecting every human being and dollar of wealth on the planet. The extent to which it will is clear to no one, apart from negotiators. But the deal, in its current form, has been in the works since 2010, involves Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam, and is open to all 21 countries in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region. US Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk, who just left his post in early March, and other top negotiators have said that they would welcome China, and recent reports in the Japanese and Australian media indicate that <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=21fe07b592&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Japan</a></span> is set to join. Thus, even the most minor of edits to the draft text could end up making or breaking people from Brisbane to Bangor. But legislators around the world are being kept in the dark about what they're voting on until the deal is hammered out; it's expected to be completed this year. When it's finished, if the experience of Congress here is any indication, legislators will be feeling extraordinary pressure from corporate lobbyists and their heads of state to accept the deal without a fuss.<br><br>The smoke-filled room itself is no secret. Kirk and his counterparts have said that talks must be kept confidential, in <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=6f94fee913&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Kirk's words</a></span>, "to enable negotiators for various governments to share information and have frank conversations that result in progress toward concluding a trade agreement."<br><br>But other officials, including American legislators and their staffers, sing a different tune. They decry the opacity as a way to ram the deal through Congress.<br><br>"When challenged about the conflict with the Obama administration's touted commitment to transparency," TPP critic and Public Citizen trade lawyer Lori Wallach wrote in <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=1112fbb6a8&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">The Nation</a> last year</span>, "Trade Representative Kirk noted that after the release of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) text in 2001, that deal could not be completed. In other words, the official in charge of the TPP says the only way to complete the deal is to keep it secret from the people who would have to live with the results."<br><br>"The Doha Round of WTO [World Trade Organization] expansion, the FTAA and other corporate attacks via 'trade' agreements were successfully derailed when citizens around the world took action to hold their governments accountable," she noted.<br><br>While there is no evidence that multinationals themselves have access to the draft agreement, a pair of well-connected corporate lobbyists told Truthout - in response to a question about the USTR's responsiveness - that they are pleased by the direction of the talks and the way in which the USTR is keeping them abreast of developments.<br><br>At a February 12 panel discussion on Capitol Hill featuring Barbara Weisel, the USTR's chief TPP negotiator, Rick Johnston, a senior vice president and director for international government affairs at Citigroup, emphatically stated that he has been "very, very, pleased" with the way the USTR has dealt with the company's TPP-related concerns.<br><br><span>"With a trade agreement, if you don't have the business community supporting the idea of the United States participating in that agreement, it's very likely not to happen," he said. "So the Trade Representative's office, Barbara and her team have been very, very forthcoming to the extent they can, in talking with us about this agreement, how this negotiation is going forward."</span><br><br>"We're very grateful with the amount of time and energy that the people at USTR devote to trying to keep us apprised and trying to test us and determine what works and what doesn't work. It's difficult. Because these are negotiating texts, the negotiators are constrained in terms of what they can and can't share with us," Johnston said, describing the business community as "sort of part of a team."<br><br>"Granted, we're not first string in terms of frontlines of the negotiations," he added, "but we've got, I think, by this engagement, what's been mutually reinforcing."<br><br>Johnston appears to be well in the know, too, as one would expect a top lobbyist for a too-big-to-fail bank to be. A <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=5a52a5b955&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">press release</a></span> once described him as someone who "has advised both US and foreign government leaders as well as major multinational corporations on a broad array of commercial and strategic transnational issues," adding that he has served as "international trade counsel" to the Senate Finance Committee and as an adviser to the <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=ee7ce4ac6c&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">US International Trade Commission</a></span>, "an independent, quasijudicial Federal agency with broad investigative responsibilities on matters of trade." At the discussion hours before Obama feted the TPP in his <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=3649e7f85f&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">State of the Union address</a></span> and revealed the existence of exploratory discussions about "a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union," Johnston foreshadowed the EU partnership and said the TPP would heavily influence it.<br><br><span>"The short and sweet of it is the TPP really is setting that high-water level for all these trade negotiations. And I would suggest that the TPP - you're going to see a lot of that in the International Services Agreement," referring to service trade liberalization negotiations Kirk revealed in </span><span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=a8db4c5940&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">January</a> </span><span>taking place between the United States, Japan, the EU and 18 other economies.</span><br><br><span>"You'll probably see a lot of it creep into the US-EU negotiation, which, rumor has it, might be endorsed by the president tonight," he correctly predicted.</span><br><br>Another lobbyist on the panel, Steve Lamar, the executive vice president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, was similarly effusive in response to the question posed by Truthout.<br><br>"There have been opportunities for stakeholders to present and interact with the negotiators - not just the US government negotiators, but other negotiating teams as well in a variety of different fora," he said.<br><br>"There has been a lot of experimentation. I've heard some very positive feedback from a variety of groups" who participated, he commented, remarking that he had seen Weisel and other "chief negotiators" involved in the process.<br><br>"It's not just show. You really see engagement and discussion going on at the rounds themselves," Lamar said.<br><br>According to tax filings, the American Apparel and Footwear Association took in <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=c2284c3ffc&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">just over $5 million in revenue</a></span> in fiscal year 2011, and, according to disclosures aggregated by the <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=109698dc6c&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Center for Responsive Politics</a></span>, spent $733,672 on lobbying in 2012. The association's <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=85b1f6fd7b&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">web site</a></span> claims that its board of directors is "comprised of top industry executives," <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=f590e8d742&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">includ</a>ing </span>executives from New Balance, Haggar, Jockey, Donna Karan, Kenneth Cole, Perry Ellis, and others with an interest in the textile industry.<br><br>Weisel, however, stressed that the USTR is opening doors to all sorts of interest groups.<br><br>"We engage with stakeholders from the business community, from the NGO community, consumer groups, stakeholders that represent lots of different interests," she said after Johnston and Lamar lavished the USTR with praise.<br><br>Indeed, <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=82c7675e61&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">federal law</a></span> requires the USTR to consult with bodies known as Trade Advisory Committees, which can include up to 45 members and "shall include representatives of non-Federal governments, labor, industry, agriculture, small business, service industries, retailers, nongovernmental environmental and conservation organizations, and consumer interests." Other single-issue advisory committees on labor, agriculture and other interests are also part of the process. Other interest groups can also stake a claim to some of the USTR's time by registering to participate in a "<a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=f73f8291d4&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">direct stakeholder engagement" process.</a><br><br>Weisel also insisted that the USTR has had a robust working relationship with Congress.<br><br>"We're spending quite a bit of time up here on the Hill," she said. "I personally spend quite a bit of time up here on the Hill. And we know that there are different perspectives on a lot of these issues, and they are important policy issues."<br><br>But some legislators and staffers on the Hill have been outspoken about what the deal could entail and how negotiations have been conducted. In November, <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=dc9b3c0ecf&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">24 Senators wrote to President Obama</a></span> expressing concerns about the TPP's potential effect on "job creation" and "middle class jobs," citing provisions about "Buy American" rules, "Rules of Origin" guidelines, labor rights, currency manipulation, state-owned enterprises, and incentives for off-shoring. One of those lawmakers, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told Truthout that his feelings were "mixed" about the USTR's responsiveness to his office's concerns.<br><br>"They made some improvements ensuing from our discussions on South Korea," he said, referring to the Korea Free Trade Agreement. "They have been open on some trade enforcement issues. They aren't as aggressive as I think they should be protecting American interests and American jobs and American manufacturers. But the door's open," he commented, adding that "they're better than other administrations [have been]."<br><br>Senator Brown pointed out that his recent appointment to the Senate Finance Committee should give him firmer ground to stand on in TPP discussions. Under<span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=8939bc6f91&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">federal law</a></span>, members of the House Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committees are designated official advisers to the USTR. In addition to every Representative and Senator, those panels' staffers – being on "committees of jurisdiction" – are made privy to the American delegation's proposals.<br>Not a single person in Congress, however - or in any legislature of any country party to the deal - is allowed to even once-over the latest version of the actual draft agreement. In an email to Truthout, USTR spokesperson Carol Guthrie confirmed that senators and Congresspeople on committees of jurisdiction, along with their staffers, are only allowed to see the USTR <em>proposals</em> - not the working agreement. She added that "others at the discretion of the committees' chair and ranking member" are given access to USTR proposals.<br><br>"In addition, when a US TPP proposal may potentially affect issues that fall under other committees' jurisdictions - e.g., agriculture - then the committee staff have access to those TPP proposals," she added.<br><br>But the disconnect between the average rank-and-file staffer and the TPP is significant - even if the USTR's proposals were accepted in the final document verbatim - considering that the majority of those who make Congress run on a daily basis have little idea of what to expect, in terms of the legal minutiae that ends up being rather significant and difficult to comprehend. One staffer for Senator Brown told Truthout that "there are a lot of members that are not satisfied with the level of transparency."<br><br>Guthrie said that senators and their staffers must view proposal texts in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF.<br><br>"We bring the text in hard copy to their SCIF complex in the Capitol at their request. We also make our SCIF available for their use. Secondly, Senate rules require logging on to the secure web site from a secure workstation," she said.<br><br>House rules are less constraining, however.<br><br>"We bring [House] members and staff the text in hardcopy to their offices, at their request, or they can log in to the cleared advisers site from their desks and laptops," Guthrie said.<br><br>Nonetheless, with the updated draft itself guarded in confidentiality and the USTR proposal a forbidden fruit to a majority of staffers, there is a feeling on the Hill that Congressional oversight of the TPP is a formality.<br><br>Another Senate aide who spoke to Truthout appeared to support what Wallach wrote in The Nation - that secrecy could be used to push the TPP through Congress <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=703f5ff716&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">if it votes to renew the administration's ability to "fast track" trade deals, as expected</a></span>.<br><br>The aide speculated that the pact is being pushed by USTR career bureaucrats and embraced by the Obama administration as a favor to the business community. The all-powerful Chamber of Commerce, which has lobbied extensively on the TPP, is no longer on the backfoot, as it was during debates over health care and financial reform - despite <a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=16766f85aa&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">gifts to the insurance industry</a> ingrained in the Affordable Care Act and the <a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=d68d57124a&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">voluminous</a> <a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=28c64eb1a4&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">loopholes</a> that lobbyists eventually helped punch into Dodd-Frank. <br><br>The TPP will give big business additional leverage through regulatory ceilings and dispute resolution tribunals. The latter, used to enforce the former, could increase international litigation risk for new regulations - a threat that already exists, courtesy of NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO. The panels create additional legal venues in which either foreign investors can demand compensation for losses borne through "regulatory expropriation," or in which states can be awarded the right to impose retaliatory tariffs on counterparts deemed to be pushing biased regulations. They don't create additional opportunities for workers to sue a foreign country or company for allowing the murder of union leaders, nor do they offer an additional medium for a government to sue a company for environmental damage. The result is the creation of new institutions fueling the race to the bottom wrought by an interpretation of global economic integration that affords capital outsized privilege. The chilling effect on regulation is greater in poorer countries that can be cowed by the panels.<br><br>These dispute resolution tribunals, whether they mediate disputes between states or disagreements between investors and states, are said to be key to enforcing arguably the most important principal underpinning these trade agreements: "non-discrimination." If a country's own investors and companies are given preferential treatment, the deal isn't worth the paper it's printed on. But discriminatory practices aren't always at the heart of conflicts brought before tribunals. In the wake of NAFTA, for example, Mexico lost a controversial investor-state tribunal that cost its government <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=7d20f96947&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">$16 million in 2001</a></span> and cast doubt over the resilience of environmental regulations. Metalclad, an American landfill management company, had received permission from the Mexican government to operate a dump in Guadalcazar, in the state of San Luis Potosi. But while the plans had been approved by federal authorities, Metalclad had its permit to operate the landfill <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=1102a4847c&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">revoked by the state's governor in 1995</a></span>. It also hadn't acquired <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=c80221949e&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">permission from municipal authorities</a></span>, which wasn't exactly an unprecedented outcome: Metalclad had purchased the site from a Mexican company called Coterin, which similarly failed to receive municipal permission to operate the landfill. There had been no sort of significant discriminatory practices in this case, but the tribunal decided that the company was not afforded a <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=1597fa4d71&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">"minimum standard of treatment"</a></span> that NAFTA provided to foreign investors. The decision was appealed to a Canadian court (a neutral venue). Although it disagreed with the ruling on minimum standard of treatment, it upheld most of the punitive damages. Thus, while discrimination wasn't even an issue, Metalclad was afforded a legal outlet that the Mexican company from which it acquired the asset did not have the right to.<br><br>The USTR, however, insists that these tribunals wouldn't have any sort of direct effect on regulations in the United States - that any decision made by investor state tribunals would merely levy fines and not "prevent our government or any participating government from regulating in the public interest."<br><br>"Nothing being negotiated would give any arbitration body the authority to overturn or enjoin any government measure, even one that violates the agreement," Guthrie wrote. "The neutral, international arbitration panels that can be set up under the agreement have no power or authority to direct changes to any federal, state, or local entity, period."<br><br>"US proposals recognize the right of other countries to regulate in their own public interest on financial issues, labor and the environment, and every other issue the TPP covers," she continued, "because we would never give up the right for the US government to regulate on these issues in the interest of Americans."<br><br>She added that the United States has "never lost an investor-state dispute, and never paid a penny in damages."<br><br>"The reason we can win, and do, is that these investment rules are based on the same fundamental rights already afforded to Americans and foreigners alike under the US Constitution and US laws," Guthrie continued. "Nothing in our agreements provides foreign investors with greater substantive rights than US investors already receive under US law."<br><br>She also noted that the three-mediator tribunals contain panel members selected by both a plaintiff and defendant, and one selected by both sides (failing that, "a neutral international organization" picks the mediator to round out panel).<br>"Transparency is also a top priority for the United States in the arbitration process. Investment arbitration hearings under US trade agreements are public and all key documents and tribunal decisions are public, as well," said Guthrie.<br>However, experts told Truthout that the USTR's public statements on tribunals have been problematic.<br><br>"Past victories are no predictor of how TPP rulings will turn out for the US," said AFL-CIO Trade and Global Policy Specialist Celeste Drake regarding the United States government's immaculate record at NAFTA investor-state resolution tribunals. "And legitimate public interest shouldn't be pared down anywhere," she added.<br><br>Public Citizen's Wallach was more dismissive of claims about the United States having never lost anything in investor-state dispute courts. Taxpayers must shoulder the burden of tribunal costs "even when cases are dismissed," she said.<br><br>On the chilling effect on regulation, Wallach said there is "no limit to the amount of money tribunals can order governments to pay corporations." She also pointed out that the United States has lost cases under NAFTA and WTO state-state tribunals - the former are held under either <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=b7abbed92e&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">World Bank or UN rules</a></span>; the UN has its own <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=1300ec9c53&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">dispute settlement system</a></span>. Wallach said that the Department of Transportation had ruled that <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=4c46dc8cf8&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Mexican law governing trucks didn't meet American safety and environmental standards</a></span>, but NAFTA tribunals imposed $2.4 billion in retaliatory tariffs until the Obama administration eventually relented and allowed the trucks into the country (<span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=fc11396425&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">technical problems and uncertainty</a></span> on the Mexican side mean that few trucks have taken advantage of the change thus far). At WTO tribunals, the US has <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=9940ea79a7&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">lost decisions</a></span>that have adversely affected labeling practices for dolphin-safe tuna and country-of-origin meat and a US ban on <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=dac7871550&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">certain types of flavored cigarettes</a> thought to be aimed at appealing to young people</span><span>.</span><br><br>With respect to the USTR's claims on transparency, Wallach said that the <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=b17d2537ce&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">World Bank</a></span> investor-state tribunal system empowered by NAFTA doesn't release documents "or even notice a case is happening" unless plaintiffs agree to it.<br>She said that there are no conflict-of-interest rules for the lawyers who are picked to mediate - some might represent corporations that could bring cases before the bodies.<br><br>If Congress approves the TPP, lawmakers could find themselves whittling away at federal rules and regulations before any TPP tribunal system is even established. The tribunals themselves may lack the power to enjoin law - retaliatory tariffs levied merely buttress an incentive-based system of liberalization - but when the United States becomes party to international treaties such as the TPP, Congress must ensure that federal law is compliant.<br><br>One area where this has been a huge concern is in the realm of intellectual property law. <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=671e8ca5fd&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Doctors Without Borders</a></span> has denounced US proposals, saying they "threaten to roll back internationally-agreed public health safeguards and would put in place far-reaching monopoly protections that keep medicine prices high and out of the reach of millions in the Asia-Pacific region." The group says that the proposals would extend monopoly power over medicines - "a complete repudiation of the US government's own 2007 bipartisan trade policy" - by mandating "new 20-year patents for modifications of existing medicines ... without improvement of therapeutic efficacy for patients," and by making it "more expensive and cumbersome to challenge undeserved or invalid patents."<br><br>The <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=e1a5c65f29&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">USTR has also proposed patenting surgical procedures</a></span> - a move that would force Congress to change IP law and one that could <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=6b4011dc23&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">force surgeons to obtain permission from patent-holders before performing surgery</a></span>.<br><br>The draft has also been rumored to contain intellectual property provisions reminiscent of the Protect Intellectual Property and Stop Online Piracy Acts (PIPA/SOPA), bills that were tabled and then quickly yanked after dissent spread through cyberspace with cat-video-like speed. One of many wary legislators, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California), <a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=392caebe8d&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">wrote a letter</a> to Kirk in September, expressing concern that an <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=46fbd16cb0&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">August leak</a></span> of a draft agreement showed that the TPP would enforce "a burdensome 'three-step test' restricting the scope of limitations and exceptions" to copyright law.<br><br>Maira Sutton, a global policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) - an organization opposed to the TPP - differentiated between the revealed agreement's "very broad" language and SOPA and PIPA. She did, however, describe the three-step test as a "vague guideline" that "could easily be interpreted to restrict exceptions and limitations to copyright." She said that the TPP, based on the leak, "could lead to web sites getting shut down for hosting copyrighted content."<br><br>In response to a question from Truthout after the February 12 panel discussion, Weisel said that the American delegation isn't "negotiating PIPA and SOPA again."<br><br>"We're negotiating something that is appropriate for a free trade agreement. So they're really separate issues," she told Truthout, insisting that the USTR has been well aware of the outrage that followed PIPA and SOPA.<br><br>Guthrie later wrote that TPP copyright provisions "follow the balanced approach that Congress established in the existing Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and they are complemented by market-opening provisions on digital services, data flows, and e-commerce."<br><br>She added that the IP chapter seeks to "reinforce and develop existing World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) rights and obligations" and that proposals being discussed take into account "trademarks, geographical indications, copyright and related rights, patents, trade secrets, data required for the approval of certain regulated products, as well as intellectual property enforcement and genetic resources and traditional knowledge."<br><br>"However," she wrote, "we also think it is possible to do more. In TPP, for the first time in an FTA, the United States has tabled a proposal that will obligate parties to seek to achieve an appropriate balance in their copyright systems in providing copyright exceptions and limitations for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research."<br><br>When asked about these statements, Sutton characterized the DMCA and TRIPs as stifling - they hold Internet service providers liable for copyright infringements, allow judges to levy thousands of dollars in fines for minor violations, and extend protections to authors who have been deceased for 50 years, for example. She also described the agreements as anachronistic - both were drafted before the benefits of file-sharing (or at least the <a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=2fa3eb7ab5&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">inability to prove what, if any, negative effects it </a>has) could be appreciated. - and said that "reinforcing and developing" them, as the TPP might do, could lead to Internet service providers spying on users and blocking content with little judicial oversight. <br>But she said that the statement about obligating parties to strike "an appropriate balance" was encouraging.<br><br>"It would be great if they obligated countries to consider other fair uses than what is already permissable under the three-step test," Sutton commented, describing the comment as a "small consolation."<br>But she stressed that it's impossible to assess what's going on when the working agreement itself is being kept private.<br><br>The same can be said for the other "minimum standards of treatment" that would eventually be the basis for legal challenges before panels. The USTR insists that the agreement won't hamstring legislation in the public interest, hailing the deal as a "21<span size="3">st-</span>century agreement." Yet without any draft text to assess, those claims can't be verified.<br><br>Statements made at the February panel discussion, however, indicate that TPP discussions are centered around hogtying legislators and regulators. Weisel said that the USTR wants "a very deep agreement" in terms of "an ambitious outcome on services and investment, because we are still competitive in the service sectors as well as in government procurement."<br><br>"There have been lots of studies on this and all of them would demonstrate that the deeper the liberalization, the greater the benefits," she said. While that could be construed to encompass only tariffs, the scope of the vision Weisel laid out seemed to praise giving corporations a much wider berth than federal law currently allows.<br><br>"It's the non-tariff barriers and regulatory issues that companies face that we really need to do significant work on, and have been looking at carefully as key elements in TPP," she added.<br>The concept of non-tariff barriers, as described by Citigroup's Johnston, "has a lot to do with regulatory control by host government."<br><br>"It has a lot to do with conditions - once you're invested, you then find it very difficult to take advantage of the capital you put into the country," he stated, adding that the TPP can be useful for "not totally removing, of course, but reducing the behind-the-border barriers."<br><br><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); ">Publicly owned enterprises, for example, are being targeted by negotiators. One such entity in the United States that has been the subject of considerable interest in recent years is the Bank of North Dakota (BND) - the only fully publicly owned financial institution in the country. The BND, which is only allowed to lend wholesale, was a stabilizing force that helped keep the already energy-rich state insulated from the shock of the financial crisis (Alaska, for example, didn't fare as well). It has also brought a small fortune to the state's treasury - </span><span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=516d1664b6&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); ">$340 million</span></a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "> in net tax gain between 1997 and 2009. Legislators in at least 13</span><span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=e9643f8d2c&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "> different states</span></a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "> have proposed studying or emulating the North Dakota model - state-owned development of central-bank style institutions guaranteed by tax revenue. But if the TPP is passed, that option might not be available. Weisel said that State Owned Enterprises (SOE) are routinely "competing directly with private enterprises, and often in a way that is considered unfair."</span><br><br><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); ">"Some of the advantages that can be conferred on State Owned Enterprises are things like preferential financing," Weisel said. "Those are things that wouldn't be provided to private companies - preferential provision of goods and services provided by a government."</span><br><br><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); ">She said that "State Owned Enterprises - which in some cases can comprise a significant percentage of an economy - can be used to undermine what we're otherwise trying to gain from this free trade agreement."</span><br><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); ">A spokesperson for the BND declined to comment on whether or not this outlook was perceived by the bank to be an institutional threat. But, depending on the report's language, foreign bankers could claim that the BND stops them from lending to commercial banks throughout the state.</span><br><br><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); ">Citigroup's Johnston, in response to another question from the audience, said that corporations weren't exactly enamored of competition with publicly owned enterprises - and that they are prodding TPP delegates into doing something about it.</span><br><br><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); ">"The companies that are running up against the problem and the challenges of the state-owned enterprises, they obviously feel strongly enough about it that the problem is being addressed within the negotiations," he said.</span><br><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); ">"How it's going to ultimately flesh out in my mind is one of the big question marks in the TPP negotiations," he opined, "because you've got such a diverse array of economies at the table."</span><br><br>Weisel added that she didn't think SOEs should be barred by the treaty, commenting that they "are created for a lot of purposes."<br><br>"We have SOEs to address market failure, or to cover certain public services that wouldn't otherwise be covered by the private sector," she pointed out.<br><br>But in a day and age in which public institutions are commonly used as a dumping ground for private failures, when every commodity under the sun - from water utilities to public education, from security to space exploration - is targeted by free-marketeers, there can be no guarantee, until the draft is finally released, that the TPP will protect entities like the BND, especially when considering, as critics have contended, that the deal's boosters are pushing an agreement that more firmly entrenches capital flow as a form of trade.<br><br>"When you hear the word 'trade' in today's business world, it doesn't just mean goods moving across borders," Johnston said. "It doesn't even mean just services moving across borders. It also means investment. And that's something where the TPP is really gonna make a big difference."<br><br>Trade, according to <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=04d1262948&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">Black's Law dictionary</a></span>, is defined as "Traffic; <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=1bca8eedea&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">commerce</a></span>,<span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=0a336080ff&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">exchange</a> </span>of goods for other goods, or for money." Yet this trade pact could usher in a rash of reforms, with minimal oversight and virtually no public hearings, treating investment rules as a trade issue, even though they haven't traditionally been dealt with as such.<br><br>Non-corporate TPP stakeholders aren't hopeful about influencing the process, either - unlike their corporate counterparts. To actually participate in direct engagement, stakeholders have to apply for credentials with the USTR. Nathan White, a former communications aide to ex-Rep. Dennis Kucinich said the process involves something of a "catch-22."<br><br>"You have to say why you're interested in the TPP without knowing what the document actually says," he pointed out.<br><br>As far as the trade advisory committees go, members are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for gaining access to USTR proposals - a scenario that limits their ability to advocate. The EFF, for one, decided against lobbying to join the committees for that reason.<br><br>"We don't want to give legitimacy to process that's very closed in the first place," Maira Sutton of EFF said.<br><br>She also said that the USTR has held direct stakeholder engagement at negotiation rounds, but that these symposia are diminishing in significance. She didn't expect that delegates working on certain provisions would know where to find the stakeholders with relevant comments. As such, the EFF declined to spend money on sending a team to Singapore.<br><br>Not even members of the main Trade Advisory Committee can ascertain whether or not their input is considered. The AFL-CIO is a member of the Labor Advisory Committee. Celeste Drake, with Public Citizen has access to the USTR's proposals and said that she isn't sure what becomes of the union's commentary.<br><br>"You don't necessarily hear back about whether all of your comments and criticisms were incorporated," she said.<br><br>"Are they responsive to our concerns? That's hard to answer, given that we don't know about the text that's on the table."<br><br>She added that the AFL-CIO, in tandem with partners in other countries, wrote a model chapter on labor to submit to the USTR, though she said it was "hardly likely" that most of it will be adopted into the draft agreement.<br>Drake does think that the USTR is making itself available to listen to her concerns - that someone at the USTR will actually listen to her or call her back.<br><br>"They're trying to be very accessible," she said.<br><br>Despite a recent <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=a3d5608479&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">statement</a></span> by the union warning that "there is a serious risk that the TPP ... will repeat the mistakes of the NAFTA trade model," she also noted that USTR representatives "have talked publicly about a very strong labor chapter, and that's good, and I think we would appreciate what they can do."<br><br>Members of the dozens of trade advisory committees can really only hope that their appeals aren't made in vain. According to <span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=7d6165d52f&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">federal law</a></span>, the USTR "<span>shall not be bound by the advice or recommendations of such advisory committees, but shall inform the advisory committees of significant departures from such advice or recommendations made."</span><br><br><span>Even if law mandated that committees' advice be folded into official policy, it wouldn't necessarily be in favor of the public interest. The balance of power on the committees lies with corporate representatives - members are recommended by the USTR and appointed by the president - and the boards only meet when beckoned by the USTR or "at the call of two-thirds of the members of the committee."</span><br><br><span>To make the influence-peddling even more imbalanced, over 166 lobbying clients - the majority of which are multinationals and corporate lobbyists - have filed lobbying disclosures about the TPP between 2010 and 2012. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Chamber of Commerce alone has filed 42 reports that mention the TPP; </span><span><a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2d0710975e6d9e441e255e659&id=57b79e509e&e=856575db77" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(89, 108, 141); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; ">other top influence peddlers</a></span><span> include the National Retail Federation (26 reports), the AFL-CIO (21), Nike (19), Google (17), Land O'Lakes (16), the American Apparel & Footwear Association (16), United Steelworkers (16), Pfizer (16), and News Corp (16). The majority of those in power are under overwhelming pressure from moneyed interests to pass the deal - perhaps one reason why Congress, by and large, hasn't made much of a fuss over being kept in the dark about the details of the deal itself.</span><br><br><span>But despite the mystery, there is substantial evidence - not least, the enthusiasm among corporate lobbyists, their intense lobby</span><span>ing efforts, frustration among public interest groups and disappointment on many corners of Capitol Hill - to suggest that the TPP is going to contain deregulatory initiatives and measures that usher in the privatization of publicly owned enterprises and the fencing off of the creative commons.</span><br><br><em>Sam Knight is a Truthout contributor and freelance journalist living in Washington, DC.</em><br><br><br> </div></div><br></div></td></tr><tr mc:repeatable="repeat_3" mc:repeatindex="4"><td valign="top" class="sidebarContent" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-left-width: 1px; 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