Clinton and Wasserman appointees skewer the Democratic Party Platform: Major policies dropped! - Polidicks

[quote]Sanders' allies wanted the draft to specify that the $15 minimum wage should be indexed with inflation. But Clinton's side struck down the amendment, noting that the document already included a call to "raise and index the minimum wage."[/quote] I don't understand at all. Did all 6 of the Sanders delegates completely misread the thing? If it's already in the document, why strike it down?

[QUOTE=Gray Altoid;50599499]I don't understand at all. Did all 6 of the Sanders delegates completely misread the thing? If it's already in the document, why strike it down?[/QUOTE] Because the clause was too vague, I think. Clinton advocated for a 12 dollar minimum wage and that's not high enough. I might have misunderstood your question though

[QUOTE=cody8295;50599539]Because the clause was too vague, I think. Clinton advocated for a 12 dollar minimum wage and that's not high enough. I might have misunderstood your question though[/QUOTE] Initially it only said "increasing the minimum wage." Sanders committee picks pushed for an explicit $15 minimum wage, and that was rolled in. The initial draft already had "increasing the minimum wage and indexing it," so adding "indexing it to inflation" was completely redundant since they'd already affirmed that in the initial draft.

[QUOTE=.Isak.;50599669]Initially it only said "increasing the minimum wage." Sanders committee picks pushed for an explicit $15 minimum wage, and that was rolled in. The initial draft already had "increasing the minimum wage and indexing it," so adding "indexing it to inflation" was completely redundant since they'd already affirmed that in the initial draft.[/QUOTE] Thank you for the clarification, many of my friends and I are confused about how it all went down.

[QUOTE=person11;50594248]I understand the TPP thing, since it's awkward that the platform would go against Obama. I'm sure it would have been approved otherwise[/QUOTE] Clinton committee pick Luis Gutierrez more or less said the same thing, even though he's historically been opposed to trade deals. This can still easily be revised. And this only means that they didn't [i]explicitly[/i] oppose the TPP, which would be sort of silly for a platform about general policies and not specific bills. The draft already states that trade deals need to protect workers' rights over boosting corporate profits, highlights the importance of strong labor standards (something Clinton has been outspoken about in past trade deals like CAFTA), environmental regulations, and public health concerns. It calls for the continuous re-examination of trade deals and wants stronger enforcement of the provisions set out in trade deals, plus calls for a higher standard for all future trade agreements. It's by no means excessively positive towards trade deals like the TPP - it's pretty negative towards it, actually, since the TPP apparently doesn't have good labor protections - something Clinton has criticized it for. She's brought up that criticism time and time again when she was senator - to CAFTA and other smaller trade deals. It's by no means "YAY TPP LET'S GO DEMS PASS IT," it's way more "let's be careful with trade deals and make sure they're fair to workers and protect labor rights above all," which echoes the criticisms Sanders and Clinton have both brought against the TPP.

Can somebody explain why the tpp is bad? I'm not being confrontational here, it's just that nobody ever told me what's so bad about it

[QUOTE=proboardslol;50600340]Can somebody explain why the tpp is bad? I'm not being confrontational here, it's just that nobody ever told me what's so bad about it[/QUOTE] I've heard it may allow foreign corporations and businesses to use an International Court for suing or appealing to American legislation (and other businesses?) [QUOTE]Chapter 9, Section B of the TPP Agreement provides for Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).[49] ISDS is an instrument of public international law, which grants an investor the right to initiate dispute settlement proceedings against a foreign government. For example, if an investor invests in country "A", a member of a trade treaty, and country A breaches that treaty, then the investor may sue country A's government for the breach.[50] ISDS is meant to provide investors in foreign countries basic protections from foreign government actions such as "freedom from discrimination", "protection against uncompensated expropriation of property", "protection against denial of justice" and "right to transfer capital".[51] The ISDS provisions in TPP do not apply to tobacco industries.[52] According to the Council on Foreign Relations, "the TPP is the first U.S. trade deal to exempt antismoking measures from the lawsuits that investors may bring under the agreement."[52][/QUOTE] There are also intellectual property implications [QUOTE]The intellectual property section of a leaked draft of the TPP lays out a minimum level of protection parties to the Agreement must grant for trademarks, copyright, and patents. Trademarks may be visual, auditory or scents, and are granted exclusive use for trade in a certain field. Copyright is granted at a length of life of the author plus 70 years, and makes willful circumvention of protections (such as Digital Rights Management) illegal. The TPP also establishes that "making available" is the exclusive right of the copyright owner.[/QUOTE] and tariffs [QUOTE]The agreement would reduce 18,000 tariffs. Tariffs on all U.S. manufactured goods and almost all U.S. farm products would be eliminated completely, with most eliminations occurring immediately.[44] According to the Congressional Research Service, TPP "would be the largest U.S. FTA by trade flows ($905 billion in U.S. goods and services exports and $980 billion in imports in 2014)".[45] In addition, the agreement mandates expedited customs procedures for express shipments and prohibits customs duties from being applied to electronic transmissions. It also requires additional privacy, security, and consumer protections for online transactions and encourages the publication of online customs forms. These provisions are expected to be particularly beneficial to small businesses.[44] [/QUOTE] There's so many pages though, who knows what else could be in the TPP.? not me btw [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership#Intellectual_property_provisions[/url]

[QUOTE=cody8295;50600414]I've heard it may allow foreign corporations and businesses to use an International Court for suing or appealing to American legislation (and other businesses?) There are also intellectual property implications and tariffs There's so many pages though, who knows what else could be in the TPP.? not me btw [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership#Intellectual_property_provisions[/url][/QUOTE] The biggest concerns about it are that human rights and labor rights aren't protected strongly enough. There was a provision in it against human trafficking, and six of the 12 countries failed to pass the standards against human trafficking. Malaysia especially failed to reach these standards - instead of kicking them out of the trade deal, the US just upgraded their ranking on human trafficking and included them anyways. It has poor labor, environmental, and public health protections. Many of the countries tied into the TPP engage in forced labor and child labor, and have serious problems with human trafficking and widespread violent crime. Other concerns are that the US would undoubtedly lose a [i]lot[/i] of jobs through this trade deal. It's beneficial to companies that produce in these countries, like Nike and Apple and other international corporations, but it would seriously hurt US jobs. That, plus stringent intellectual property provisions, are why people are opposing it. The language in the DNC platform does oppose it for the same reasons Sanders and Clinton have opposed it - they just didn't explicitly mention the TPP. It addresses a lot of the major concerns of the TPP and promotes caution. Free trade deals are generally a good thing, so long as they're negotiated well, but the TPP isn't one of those. Caution towards deals like it is smart. DNC platform expresses that.