Negotiations of terms for the TPP are secret, so no one -- not even members of Congress -- are sure what powers are being transferred from the people to these powerful private interests. Almost everyone agrees, though, that the TPP will eventually be fast-tracked and passed with almost no public debate and little coverage in the media.

This recent report sheds some light on how high-ranking officers from banks and other companies came to be involved in the process -- and indeed have actually assumed the position of writing the trade agreement terms and negotiating, farcically of course, on "behalf" of the American people.

(Report is from February. How did I miss this?)



Officials tapped by the Obama administration to lead the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations have received multimillion dollar bonuses from CitiGroup and Bank of America, financial disclosures obtained by Republic Report show.

Stefan Selig, a Bank of America investment banker nominated to become the Under Secretary for International Trade at the Department of Commerce, received more than $9 million in bonus pay as he was nominated to join the administration in November. The bonus pay came in addition to the $5.1 million in incentive pay awarded to Selig last year.

Many large corporations with a strong incentive to influence public policy award bonuses and other incentive pay to executives if they take jobs within the government. CitiGroup, for instance, provides an executive contract that awards additional retirement pay upon leaving to take a “full time high level position with the U.S. government or regulatory body.” Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, the Blackstone Group, Fannie Mae, Northern Trust, and Northrop Grumman are among the other firms that offer financial rewards upon retirement for government service.

Yes -- you heard it. U.S. officials leading the trade negotiations are actually being paid real cash, by banks and other entities. If this isn't corruption, what is?This is apparently legal, as these bonuses are routinely given to executives and other officers who leave these giant corporations to take a position in government.Well, that is nice.

And it goes along way toward explaining why our government can't seem to implement policies that help regular people -- but when banks and other huge, rich private interests want something, all of the resources they need to accomplish it are suddenly on the table.

Good luck to all.