Will Trump Save Main Street from TiSA?

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MAIN ST. VS. WALL ST.

Like many corners of American society, the election of President Donald J. Trump polarizes and realigns the banking industry. The Authentic Right traditionally distinguishes between the productive “Main Street” and parasitic “Wall Street” sides of the economy, and brewing controversy over the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) further refine this bifurcation within the banking industry itself. The usual “banksters” suffer a loss of control while the unsung heroes among a lesser-known contingent of patriotic bankers finally get a place in the sun under the new regime.

BIG BANKS VS. TRADITIONAL AMERICAN BANKS

Karen Shaw Petrou’s recent piece in American Banker magazine titled “Why ‘America First’ is bad for American bankers” casts President Trump’s desire to defend American sovereignty, businesses, and workers as a juvenile impulse, comparing it to a fantasy “Fortress of Solitude” described in Superman comic books.

The comments posted in response to Petrou at this otherwise sleepy trade publication most impress, however. At the time of this writing, five out of five comments attack Petrou’s assertions, pointing out that the right kind of banks–small and local ones–will prosper under President Trump’s policies. The only potential “losers” are the large international banks that resist considering themselves as American anyway. No wonder the “Big Five” mainstream media “fake news” conglomerates and their sycophants seek to de-anonymize comment sections, or remove the option of posting responses altogether–they can’t bear the revelation of these deep cracks in the globalist narrative.

HARPIES GO GLOBAL

Yet, the larger struggle against the globalist faction of the banking industry isn’t over. In the same uppity fashion as Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, terminated for her sabotage of President Trump’s immigration security efforts, Janet Yellen, Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve Bank, advises Congress that her institution will continue to negotiate with other central banks across the world. The leadership of the GOP warns Yellen that it is inappropriate for her to essentially conduct foreign policy on the side, independent of the incoming administration. How this treaty-making power of the Fed squares with Article Two, Section Two of the Constitution remains a mystery, given that the Fed is a private bank beyond the reach of the President and the Senate.

TiSA: SON OF TPP

Likewise, the Office of the United States Trade Representative website sports a landing page on the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), better called the “Son of TPP” (the treaty that the Trump Administration wisely torpedoed). The 2016 GOP Platform states, “we support reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which prohibits commercial banks from engaging in high-risk investment.” Many applaud this nod toward the “Main Street” side of the economic equation in the document of a political party routinely dominated by the Wall Street faction.

TiSA, however, makes it impossible for the United States to pursue a revival of Glass-Steagall. The agreement governs the financial services sector and deems such laws “anticompetitive.” TiSA, in effect, represents a clear loss of America’s national sovereignty, as well as the sacrifice of our economic resilience to “global integration” (an exposure akin to the problem of one blown Christmas tree light that forces the entire string to go dark).

STANDING UP FOR SOVEREIGNTY AGAIN

President Trump, with the help of Congress where required, can finish the job of bringing the pro-American elements of the financial sector to the forefront. Clipping the wings of the Federal Reserve is certainly warranted (paging Senator Paul…), as is scrapping TiSA. Those concerned about the preservation of America’s national sovereignty and her economic independence would remain thankful to the Administration for decisive action taken in favor of the hearty and honest “Main Street” pole.

Paul Fallavollita on Twitter
Paul Fallavollita
Paul Fallavollita is the guy that your professors warned you about. Fallavollita's columns have appeared at Moleskinerie, Ether Zone, The American Partisan, Spintech, LewRockwell.com, and Enter Stage Right. Fallavollita earned his Master of Arts degree in political science from Purdue University. Having grown up in Massachusetts, he moved to Upstate South Carolina as fast as he could. A latte addict, he works in financial services and is owned by a cat.