Alternative Visions – Transpacific Partnership Free Trade Analysis – 10.09.15

Jack takes a look at the leaks concerning provisions of the TPP trade agreement signed this past week. Why the TPP will mean loss of jobs with little or no job creation in the US in return. Why it means reduction in wages will continue. The phony statements by Obama and pundits about its effects, and the verbal maneuverings by Clinton and Republicans. Jack explains how China is not the currency manipulator, but Japan and now the other Asian members of TPP. Special focus on the treaty’s effects on pharmaceutical and health, autos, agriculture, manufacturing, Boeing Corp., and other sectors in the US. Negotiation maneuvers between the US, Australia, Japan and others. Why a vote next year, during election cycle, is more likely to pass rather than less likely. Why Congress will talk the talk, but then pass it. How TPP and free trade is really about US corporations’ foreign direct investment and less about goods exchanges between countries. Jack concludes explaining that the global trade recession now beginning will result in currency declines accelerating in the other countries that will more than offset the tariff cuts. The net result will be no gains for the US and big losses as a result of currency manipulation by other members of the treaty.

Devon Douglas-Bowers – The Truth About BRICS

Following is a transcript of a recent interview with independent journalist James Corbett, where we discussed BRICS, the popular view that the organization is a resistance force, and how we can fight back against the powers that be. hat are BRICS and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AAIB) really about? Many people argue that it is these countries challenging the dominant US-based …

F. William Engdahl – The Worth of Gold Growing by the Day. “A Gold-backed Alternative to the Inflated Dollar System”

The worth of gold in the world is growing by the day. That might seem like a paradox but it isn’t. The worth of gold is not fixed on the Comex futures exchange, or the trade in London or Zurich. True, most of the gold-trading public takes its cue today from the CME’s COMEX gold futures price where it does …

H.A. Feiveson – The Iran Deal Explained

One month ago in Vienna, the United States and five other countries (China, France, Germany, Russia, and the UK) along with a representative of the European Union, collectively known as the E3/EU+3, signed a nuclear agreement with Iran. The deal was immediately hailed as historic by both its supporters and its detractors. Yet very few of its supporters—or its detractors—know …

Andre Damon – How to make $7 billion in 45 minutes

On Thursday, Amazon, the online retail giant, announced that, contrary to analysts’ predictions and after months of financial losses, it had turned a profit in the second quarter. The stock market responded with euphoria. Amazon’s share price surged by 18 percent in a single day, adding $40 billion to the company’s market capitalization. With 154,000 employees, Amazon overnight became the …

BRICS Bank Opens for Business By Stephen Lendman

Its Shanghai-based New Development Bank (NDB) represents the beginning of a significant challenge to predatory Western financial institutions – the IMF, World Bank and other loan shark lenders of last resort. The IMF was established to stabilize exchange rates linked to the dollar and bridge temporary payment imbalances. The World Bank’s mandate was to provide credit to war-torn developing countries. …

The US Dollar and Bretton Woods are Finished: The BRICS/SCO Summits in Ufa Mark the Start of a “Silk World Order” By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

Get ready for ground shattering geopolitical changes. At the crossroads of Asia and Europe, it has been decided that the Russian city of Ufa will be the point of convergence for all the initiatives and projects of the Silk World Order of trade and integration that China and Russia are spearheading. Ufa, which is the capital of Russia’s Bashkortostan, is …

TISA Leaks Part Deux: More Evidence of Concerted Attack on Democracy – Deirdre Fulton

The Trade in Services Agreement “responds to major corporate lobbies’ desire to deregulate services,” says global trade expert. (Photo: GGAADD/flickr/cc) One day after it leaked a trove of documents related to the massive, pro-corporate Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), WikiLeaks on Thursday published another four chapters of the proposed 52-nation trade deal, covering key areas ahead of the next negotiating round on Monday. …

Financial Bombshells: Greece and JPMorgan By Bill Holter

Not that almost any and all news today is enough to make you scratch your head, two pieces of news yesterday were bombshells!  I am talking about Greece’s stance of staying IN the Eurozone and the Zerohedge article regarding JPMorgan “cornering” the global commodity markets. Let’s first start with Greece, who could have seen this one coming?  They are taking the …

Honduras Bleeding by ERIC DRAITSER and RAMIRO S. FUNEZ

June 28 marked the six year anniversary of the military coup in Honduras – the day that a democratically elected left wing government was ousted by a US-backed, US-trained cabal of generals and right wing politicians and landowners. It could correctly be called a “Quiet Coup” primarily because it took place with very little fanfare from the corporate media which, to …