The Hightower Report: Obama Says "We're Writing the Rules." Who's "We"?

Gosh, Americans don't need enemies like China when we've got "protectors" like Barack Obama.

In his pitch to get us to swallow that glob of global corporate greed known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, President Obama has resorted to a tacky bit of China-bashing. He recently crowed that, "Under this agreement, we, rather than countries like China, are writing the rules for the global economy." This backhanded slap at a major trading partner is meant to tell us that Big Bad China would've written global trade rules to hurt the American people.

Aside from the fact that we and our allies would never agree to such biased rules, even if the Chinese were stupid enough to propose them, Obama's assertion contains two self-destructive bombshells, both tucked inside the word "we."

First, if okayed by Congress, this TPP scam would offshore a whole new round of Ameri­ca's middle-class jobs, hold down or even lower U.S. wages, flood our market with unsafe imported food, free Wall Street banksters from oversight, and empower global corporations to use private "trade tribunals" of corporate lawyers to usurp our people's sovereignty. How embarrassing that our own president would claim credit for doing such explosive damage to the American people! I'm guessing that even China would not have done worse.

Second, Obama's entire TPP charade is blown to bits by his assertion that "we ... are writing the rules." Who's "we"? Were you consulted? Did you even know that a tiny group of unelected people have been meeting in secret for seven years to write "rules" for us? In fact, only about 600 corporate executives and lobbyists were allowed to be at the table, writing rules to benefit themselves at our expense.

It's a disgrace that Obama is fronting and even lying for these self-serving kleptocratic corporate powers.