Obama gives Left-wing eurosceptics cause for celebration
In an astonishing turn of events, President Obama has clearly felt it necessary to give strength to the Leave campaign, particularly those Left-wing among their number.
By saying that the UK would go to the "back of the queue" in any trade deal, Obama is signalling that Brexit could mean companies aren't given the power to sue foreign governments (including our own) if we should decide to halt the onslaught of privatisation on our vital services.
Of course what Obama really tried to suggest was that free-trade advocates who want to see services like the NHS swamped with private firms, with any reversal of this policy resulting in companies being able to sue the taxpayer for compensation, should be worried about the prospect of the UK leaving the EU.
However this shows the EU for what it really is: a level playing field for multinational corporations to occupy large chunks of our public services and the inability of an electorate to do anything about it.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) for example is a series of trade negotiations carried out in secret mostly between the EU and US. It reduces regulatory barriers to trade for big business on things like food safety law, environmental legislation and banking regulations.
One main aim of TTIP is to open up Europe’s health service to US and other countries' private coporations, What this means in reality is the potential wholesale privatisation of the NHS.
In the EU, with most of TTIP's negotiations going on in private, between lobbyists of the world's biggest corporations and away from the prying ears of any electorate, the NHS is not safe. The EU is a Big Neoliberal plaything for the rich and wealthy to bypass the niceties of democracy and set the terms on what governments do with the key services.
By saying we go to "back of the queue" of such a deal is not bad news at all. Perhaps he deserves praise for showing us the only way to ensure we not only go to the back of the queue, but we leave the queue altogether.
