TPP

How much do we really know? They have been negotiating in private. The only thing that we know is from leaks by Wikileaks.

In general, I am in favor of free trade. As long as the rules for the various countries are the same for all. It does put unskilled workers in the US at a disadvantage. They would be competing for manufacturing jobs with countries with much lower wages. Tariffs usually drive the cost of foreign goods up artificially in order to protect jobs. The side effect is that US consumers are forced to pay more for goods than they would otherwise in order to protect unskilled jobs.
I am against protectionism. Let us compete.

The deal seems to include stronger protection for intellectual property. The items specifically targeted are music, movies, books and pharmaceuticals. These items are easy to copy without paying the original author. I like the idea that the people who develop a product should get compensated, and they should get compensated the same in all locations. The fear is that this will drive up the cost of medicines and digital products in Asian countries and could cause some health issues. I think that the current system is unfair. The current scheme forces most of the R&D costs on to the US which has the strongest patent protection laws. Many countries use cheap generic knock offs of drugs and tie the cost to the cost of manufacturing the drugs. This certainly lowers the cost of drugs to their citizens but pushes the cost (a very large cost) of R&D back on the US. I say let's share the R&D costs with the rest of the world.

If China wants to use Windows then let them pay the same royalties that we pay here. They shouldn't be able to make copies of the DVDs and sell them for a slight profit over the cost of copying them.

Agricultural products are a concern. Different countries have different safety requirements. This would take flexibility away from countries and force them to accept agricultural products from each other. How much flexibility is still secret. Should a country be forced to accept another countries quality standards?

All in all the current system is not fair but there are unfair aspects both directions. I say let US workers compete with Asian workers in manufacturing and let Asians pay the same price for goods that we pay. Them paying the same price for some expensive goods will tend to drive up wages over there and hopefully somewhat level things somewhat.

The biggest problems that most progressives have is that they say it will hurt the poor. It will hurt unskilled labor in the US by making them compete with Asian labor without the protection of tariffs. And it will raise profits for corporations by enforcing intellectual property rights in countries which pretty much ignore patents and copyrights today. This will drive up the cost of drugs, software, music, etc. in poorer Asian countries.

Just my opinion.

Why all the secrecy?

Here's an article I came across last week:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/right-and-left-decry-trade-pacts-secret-tribunals/

a girl at work is more worried that monsanto( this should be of concern to you too alana) will be able to get their gmo in other countries that now dont allow it

There is that.
I've been against the passing of the bill.