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Google endorses the Trans-Pacific Partnership

publicpolicy.googleblog.com

21–30 of 260 posts

Re: Google endorses the Trans-Pacific Partnership

#21
This endorsement surprises me just because the TPP is so blatantly anti-consumer, pro-corporation.

I'm under no illusion that Google's anything other massive tech-savvy advertising company, but the self-serving corporate side of the company is usually hidden behind the pretty veneer of "tech for the people". Supporting a trade agreement like the TPP (especially given the lack of transparency in the process) lacks their usual subtlety.

Re: Google endorses the Trans-Pacific Partnership

#24
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, but Google often does the things it knows people aren't going to like behind closed doors. (For instance, Google's control over Android is done via confidential agreements. The public hasn't seen a version of these agreements newer than 2011.) An open, public endorsement of something that most tech enthusiasts who use their products know is a bad thing, is a very surprising move. I'm pretty sure I've seen a numbe…

>most everyone who uses their products knows is a bad thing I very much doubt most of their users could even tell you what it stood for, let alone have an opinion on its value.

That's fair/true. I should've used language that better expressed it being "tech enthusiasts".

Re: Google endorses the Trans-Pacific Partnership

#25
post #20
post #7

I support TPP for geopolitical reasons, I am sure the Elites in the corridors of Power in Google do it for "access" and ability to sue the shit out of the gubmints that come in their way.

What are your geopolitical reasons?

I concur with Ian Bremmer's view on TPP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jniOW9G9TQA

At a fundamental level, US defining and guiding the world economic order as it has done with Bretton woods.

Re: Google endorses the Trans-Pacific Partnership

#26
post #23

What are some alternatives to google search. I think I can get away from the rest of their products in the coming few months.

DuckDuckGo is pretty fantastic all around.

Bing is alright, to be honest (some of their data widgets are more comprehensive than Google's), but you will find times with Bing that you are sad with the results.

Re: Google endorses the Trans-Pacific Partnership

#27

The free flow of information must be why they released this tidbit on Friday afternoon? If they are so proud, surely a banner on Google is appropriate. It's for a good cause after all.

This is how you dump a story. Everyone's on the way out the door for the weekend. Google will publish something "amazing" on Monday morning to excite everyone to the level that people forget Google sold them out three days prior.

Re: Google endorses the Trans-Pacific Partnership

#29

If these benefits are legitimate, why can't they focus on 5 or 10 specific objectives, and write them in some concise form like the Bill of Rights? Why does it need to be 2,000 pages and full of complex, obsfucated concepts and details? Is the only way for progress to happen? And even if the TPP is completely beneficial, it is still part of the philosophy of economic integration. Which at its heart is promoting the c…

Why should other countries give those "5 or 10 specific objectives" to American companies in exchange for nothing (since those countries don't really have an equivalent "tech" industry it really wouldn't be mutually beneficial). This is where things like allowing foreign workers to undercut American salaries comes into play.

Re: Google endorses the Trans-Pacific Partnership

#30

If these benefits are legitimate, why can't they focus on 5 or 10 specific objectives, and write them in some concise form like the Bill of Rights? Why does it need to be 2,000 pages and full of complex, obsfucated concepts and details? Is the only way for progress to happen? And even if the TPP is completely beneficial, it is still part of the philosophy of economic integration. Which at its heart is promoting the c…

>Why does it need to be 2,000 pages and full of complex, obsfucated concepts and details?

The cynic in me says thinks of the TPP as a gigantic pile of economic concessions to specific corporate interests.

The more generous interpretation is that free trade creates winners and losers, but there's generally more winners than losers. The length of the agreement is then the result of multilateral negotiations. Each party realizes - in excruciating detail - how they're getting screwed, and attempts to negotiate concessions for agreeing to the entire thing.

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