President Obama is miffed that nearly all of his fellow Democrats in the US House recently refused to follow him over the cliff of yet another global trade deal. But, ironically, it was the core of his own argument that led Democrats to hand such an embarrassing (and deserved) defeat to him.
“Simply put,” Obama pleaded, “America has to write the rules of the 21st century economy in a way that benefits American workers.”
Nice sentiment – but “simply put” – the claim that his Trans-Pacific Partnership scheme would benefit American workers is a scam. Democratic lawmakers knew that “America” had not written the 1,000-pages of rules the president was pushing. In the secret, closed-door negotiating sessions, the tiny fraction of “Americans” allowed inside were such corporate powers as AT&T, GE, the Koch brothers, and Walmart.
Workers themselves were not at the table, nor were consumers, small business, environmentalists, family farmers, and all other real people who know from experience that the old saying is true: If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
Sure enough, the “rules of the 21st century economy” that Obama’s TPP deal would impose on us is a raw deal, rigged against people for the benefit of global corporate powers. For example, the rules would raise our medicine prices, offshore more of our jobs, undermine our food-safety and environmental protections, and even allow multinational corporations to usurp our people’s sovereignty by suing the US government in special corporate tribunals over laws and rules they don’t like.
Obama is mad at House Democrats, but people back home are furious at him for trying to sell us out. As minority leader Nancy Pelosi put it, when members went back to their districts, “we put our hand on a very hot stove” of public opposition.
“In Defeat, a Divide for Obama and His Party,” The New York Times, June 13, 2015.
“A Party In Revolt,” The New York Times, June 13, 2015.
“Obama Makes New Plea to Dissenting House Democrats on Trade Bill,” www.bloomberg.com

Debt buyers bury hard-hit consumers in lies

Whenever a corporation issues a statement declaring that it is committed to “treating consumers fairly and with respect,” chances are it’s not.
After all, if the outfit was actually doing it, there would be no need for a statement. Indeed, this particular claim came from Encore Capital, one of our country’s largest buyers of bad consumer debt – and it definitely has not been playing nice with the people it browbeats to collect overdue credit card bills, car loans, etc.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman found that Encore, based in San Diego, filed nearly 240,000 lawsuits against debtors in a recent four-year period, using our courts as its private collection arm. Problem is, Encore’s bulk filing of lawsuits are rife with errors, out-of-date payment data, fabricated credit card statements, etc. Tons of them are missing original loan documents, payment histories, and other proof of debt.
Debt predators, however, scoot around this lack of facts by simply having their employees sign affidavits asserting that the level of money owed is accurate. Judges, overwhelmed by the unending flood of lawsuits filed by Encore et al, have accepted those affidavits as true, thus ruling in favor of the corporations. But Schneiderman found that – Surprise! – affidavits were simply being rubber-stamped by company employees, who didn’t have time to check for accuracy. An employee of one large debt-buyer testified that he was having to sign about 2,000 affidavits a day!
This is no minor scam – one in seven adults in the U.S. is under pursuit by debt collectors. It’s hard enough for struggling families to claw their way out from under the economic crash without having lying, cheating, predator corporations twist the court system to pick their pockets and shut off their hope of recovery.
“Debt Buyer Faces Fine In Doubtful Lawsuits,” The New York Times, January 9, 2015.

Peeking behind Walmart’s promise to invest in American jobs

Great news: Walmart is investing in American jobs!
It says so right here in a colorful, full-page ad showing a very happy Walmart worker displaying more than a dozen brand-name products made in the Good Ol’ USA. The ad even gives a website (MadeWithAmericanJobs.com) and says we can learn more by checking it out. So… I did.
Yikes! The website is filled with stuff not made-in-America. In the special Tips & Ideas section touting gifts for Father’s Day, Walmart promotes smart phones (none made in the US), flat screen TVs (made in Korea, Japan, China, etc.), and other foreign-made electronic gadgets that “will leave Dad happy.” Other sections of the webstore offer a Taiwan computer, T-shirts from Fruit of the Loom (which closed its last US plant in 2014), and an imported tent bearing Walmart’s own house brand. In fact, out of some five million products available for online purchase from Walmart, less than five thousand (one-half of one percent) are US-made.
Two years ago, when Walmart’s CEO announced the dazzling “Made With American Jobs” Campaign, he pledged to create a million new jobs for American workers. Apparently, most of those are to be in advertising firms and PR agencies hired to hype the corporation’s attempt to bamboozle us into thinking there’s some substance to the promise to invest in America. For example, one PR promotion touted a towel maker in Georgia as a beneficiary of the retailer’s new initiative. But a follow-up investigation by the LA Times found that the company was adding a mere 35 jobs as a result of the Walmart contract and was keeping 90 percent of its production overseas.
This is Jim Hightower saying… So far, Walmart’s highly ballyhooed USA campaign has produced only about 2,000 of the million jobs promised. The ad campaign expresses a nice sentiment, but where’s the commitment?