Earlier this month, the United States invited Mexico and Canada to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact negotiations, generating a certain amount of chatter in the media regarding the proposed agreement. After reading through numerous articles on the TPP, we can’t help being reminded of the 1958 horror flick “The Blob”, starring Steve McQueen. A ball of goo pops out of a fallen comet and gets bigger and bigger as it snarfs up the helpless townsfolk, while all the while everyone wonders, ‘what is that thing?’
The TPP apparently began in 2003 as trade talks between Chile, Singapore and New Zealand, then added Brunei in 2005, and was joined by the United States in 2008, followed by Australia, Vietnam and Peru, and then Malaysia in 2010. Now Mexico and Canada have been invited to join, Japan is pondering the possibility as well, and still, a lot of folks including ourselves are asking just what the heck is that thing. Read the rest of this entry »
