You may remember how in the '90's the Clinton Administration talked us into NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Agreement -- with the promise of jobs and cheaper goods. According to economist Dean Baker, in the end, NAFTA wound up helping corporations and didn't do much for American workers. In fact, there are economists who say that in the United States, NAFTA cost nearly a million jobs. Now, there's another trade deal in the works that's even bigger - "NAFTA on steroids" as some describe it. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a coalition of North and South American and Asian trading partners that many believe could give multinational corporations even greater freedom to ignore borders and run roughshod over individual countries and the rule of law. At least that's what it may be about - negotiations are being carried on in secret and very little about the terms has leaked out. But enough is known to worry about the implications of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and its possible effect on trade unions and our copyright and patent laws, not to mention environmental, health and safety regulations. This week on Moyers & Company (check local listings), Bill Moyers discusses the Trans-Pacific Partnership with two perceptive observers of the global economy. Yves Smith, an expert on investment banking, runs the Naked Capitalism blog, a go-to site for information and insight on the business and ethics of finance. Dean Baker is co-director of the progressive Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. and has worked as a consultant to Congress and the World Bank. Also on this week's broadcast, a preview of filmmaker Robert Greenwald's new documentary, Unmanned: America's Drone Wars. The release coincided with a first: victims of deadly drone attacks testified at a special briefing for members of Congress. In this week's show we feature clips from the film, which shares testimony, stories, and alarming news on the fatal impact of our drone strategy. And a Bill Moyers essay on Obamacare's rocky rollout.
