> A benefit not reflected straight in the gdp are increases in welfare due to decreases in prices from competition.

This is the same fallacy Google has. You like one thing in the treaty so you vote in favor of some omnibus heap of garbage.

The fundamental problem with this treaty is that there are too many unrelated things in it. Even if the treaty was net positive (which it probably isn't), we should never accept something which is +1001 and -1000 when the -1000 parts are entirely unrelated and are only tacked on by lobbyists because they would never pass on their own merits.

There is no reason we can't reject this treaty and then go back and sign one that has only the good parts in it -- we're the ones asking for the bad parts. We could have the version that only has the +1001. If we dumped the bad stuff then we could even use the negotiating leverage to get more good stuff.

I agree, unfortunately it seems like the political atmosphere for free trade is trending in the imo wrong direction. So if we have to pass this in order to get that then I think I support it.

The political atmosphere for free trade is trending in the wrong direction because of trade deals like this. Rejecting them is the only way to get back to any semblance of sanity.

I disagree, I think most people don't like trade deals because of the trade part of them.