It is one of those things that is happening right now that is so corrupt it's almost hard to imagine it is possible in our World.
Critics have basically said that it would put multinational corporations outside the authority of governments. In effect, this would make corporations more powerful than the governments, and free to destroy environments and the lives of workers. (I know this is already happening, but at least theoretically, governments could do something about it if they cared enough.)
The part that is giving observers the heebie-jeebies is that there is so much secrecy surrounding the treaty, and there is concern it is *literally* being written by the corporations and not elected officials. This treaty would dramatically alter the lives of EVERYONE IN THE WORLD, but essentially nobody outside the negotiations has much of an idea what the Treaty actually says. Thankfully, some parts of the proposed drafts were leaked, and they rang a massive alarm. That's when some members of our Federal government and notable public intellectuals stepped up and were like "PUMP THE BREAKS< DUDES! WTF IS GOING ON HERE. WHO SAID THIS IS OK?"
The good news is, it is such a complicated agreement, and there are so many nations involved that it doesn't look like it would pass any time soon. If you live in a major city, there are lots of protests whenever there key leaders meet to negotiate (every few months). Also, the public response from concerned citizens taking action via protest and petitions has been really inspiring.
Surprised to see this issue come up here-- if people are interested I will post more...
