We have already heard a lot about the TTIP toxic effects for the economy, lowering of standards for regulations about the environment, health and safety as well as the looming privatisation of public services, in particular Health Services, with governments being unable to develop their own policies as they will be sued in specially established courts to defend private companies’ interests.
A new video also describes a different angle, related to the regulation of the banking sector. In fact, the US has been more effective than Europe in establishing a separation between the “real economy” side of banking (mortgages, businesses loans, ordinary people’s savings) and the speculative arm of the sector, that is, the hedge funds, the stock markets, the vultures.
Europe, and in particular the UK, have been highly resistant to the regulations proposed to avoid a crash similar to the one in 2007-8, and warnings of a repeat bust are coming from all angles, in spite of which the banks continue “business as usual”. Since all the discussions are held in secret and well away from the scrutiny of elected representatives it is not possible to work out whether this particular side of things could contain any advantages or (more likely) they will simply make the European banking system another subsidiary of the American one and its ultra neoliberal ideology.
