I’m all for balancing the budget on the backs of the oligarchs and corporations and their foundations and their offshore holdings of trillions and their professional minions who make it all possible.

Courtesy of the Roundup, the Real News Network recently did an interview highlighting the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and the stunning implications this rarely discussed treaty would have on labor, environmental, and internet rights. TPP is the next step in expanding Corporate Power at the expense of democracy and free expression.

I’m sure we’ll have a lot of reports about the dissent outside the DNC convention in Charlotte. There should be a bigger Occupy presence in Charlotte than there was in Tampa for the RNC convention, and the Undocubus, filled with undocumented immigrants who plan to challenge the Democrats on comprehensive immigration reform could make some waves. But the protest of about 800 in the streets of Charlotte last night, which was smaller than anticipated, did not give me much hope for a real breakthrough.

The leaked documents from the Trans-Pacific Partnership showed the possibility for the agreement to expand well beyond the original countries that are party to the agreement. And before the TPP has completed negotiations or been signed, we’re already seeing evidence of that. In remarks yesterday at the outset of the G20 summit, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced that his country would join the negotiations of the trade deal:

Public Citizen’s Lori Wallach has an analysis of that leaked document from the negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and it’s really even worse than anticipated.

Zach Carter reports on a key leaked document from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. This is the “NAFTA for Asia” trade deal that Senators sought more transparency for earlier in the week. Well, thanks to Public Citizen, now they know a bit more about what’s in this trade deal. And now we know why it was a well-guarded secret.

Some Senate Democrats and even some Republicans are concerned about a controversial trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which critics have denounced as “NAFTA for Asia.” And they are making their opinions known to the Obama Administration about the relative secrecy under which the deal is being negotiated.