Stories by Jim Hightower

Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the new book, "Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow." (Wiley, March 2008) He publishes the monthly "Hightower Lowdown," co-edited by Phillip Frazer. subscribe to Jim Hightower's feed

Big Coal Buys Access to 4th Graders to Promote Dirty Energy to Kids

Posted on: Jun 23, 2011, Source: Other Words

Big Coal paid big bucks to Scholastic Inc. to develop a shamelessly distorted promotion of the dirtiest fuel on Earth.

Inept Texas Governor Rick Perry Calls Himself A "Miracle Man"

Posted on: Jun 22, 2011, Source: Creators Syndicate

Perry poses as a minister and digs Texas into one of the deepest budget holes in the country, all the while receiving praise from the GOP.

Blame the '60s? The Catholic Church's Latest Shameless Ploy

Posted on: Jun 6, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Pedophilia isn't a social habit that one adopts. It's a sickness. Deal with it. Honestly.

DeVos, Koch, Scaife, Walton, ALEC, AFC: The Corporate Royalists and Right-Wing Groups Propelling the GOP's Assault on the Middle Class

Posted on: Jun 6, 2011, Source: Hightower Lowdown

A handful of rich, right-wing families and corporate chieftains are dedicated to returning America to the days when robber barons ruled.

How Charles Koch Bought a Big Chunk of FSU's Economics Department

Posted on: May 30, 2011, Source: OtherWords

What Are the Big Oil Companies Thinking When They Fight Having to Pay Taxes?

Posted on: May 18, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Last week, the heads of 5 multibillion-dollar oil behemoths strode into a U.S. Senate hearing room and took wild swings at the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes bill, which then failed.

6 State Battlegrounds in the Right-Wing War Against Teachers, Firefighters, Caregivers and the Entire Middle Class

Posted on: May 12, 2011, Source: Hightower Lowdown

Our nation has devolved into a new and nasty civil war, with moneyed elites now charging into legislatures and courts to establish themselves as a de facto plutocracy.

VT Legislature Votes to End Nuke Plant, But Company Runs Crying to the Feds

Posted on: May 9, 2011, Source: Other Words

GOP Chooses Big Oil at the Expense of Granny

Posted on: May 4, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Exxon's taxes were actually less than zero! Big Oil's lobbyists have so skewed the system that Exxon was able to extract a $156 million rebate from us taxpayers last year.

Meal Worms in Chocolate and Bug Nuggets -- Are You Ready For the Future of Food?

Posted on: May 2, 2011, Source: Other Words

Despite the "yuck" factor, many bugs pack a protein punch that's healthier than steak and far lighter on the environment.

How Tea Partiers in Congress Are Doing Their Corporate Masters' Bidding

Posted on: Apr 27, 2011, Source: AlterNet

People were robbed of hundreds of billions of dollars -- and millions of jobs, homes and businesses -- yet the banksters not only skated free, they're now collecting billions.

Congress Making Themselves and Friends Richer, While Everyone Else Struggles to Make Ends Meet

Posted on: Mar 23, 2011, Source: AlterNet

The great majority of Americans make about $30K a year. Incoming lawmakers, however? Extensive personal investments in Wall St. banks, oil giants and drug makers.

Gingrich Uses Possible 2012 Candidacy to Promote His Various Hustles... But Is He Faking It?

Posted on: Mar 21, 2011, Source: OtherWords

Top 4 Victories Handed to Corporate America by the Supreme Court -- So Far

Posted on: Feb 18, 2011, Source: Hightower Lowdown

"Judicial activism" is way too tame a phrase for what Chief Justice Roberts & Co did here. This was a coup -- a plotted overthrow to enthrone corporate political interests.

Hightower: Join the Resistance Against the Right-Wing Multi-Billionaire Koch Brothers

Posted on: Feb 6, 2011, Source: AlterNet

The Kochs are used to running their nefarious network of political front groups from behind closed doors. But they've been exposed.

Obama Team's Lame Marketing Line: 'Win the Future' -- Who's Buying That?

Posted on: Jan 28, 2011, Source: AlterNet

He's rebranding his presidency, all right. It's becoming Obama Inc.

Sorry Tea Partiers -- The GOP Only Cares About Their Corporate Paymasters and Wealthy Elites Like the Kochs

Posted on: Jan 19, 2011, Source: AlterNet

While tea party regulars are giddy with the thought that their movement took over the U. S. House, they were actually a Trojan horse for powerful corporate interests.

Hightower: How Wall Street Elites Are Dynamiting Our Democracy

Posted on: Jan 5, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Our society can tolerate such raw selfishness by the privileged few, or it can have democracy. It can't have both.

Vision: 8 Ways We're Making America a Better Place -- in Spite of the Disasters Coming out of Washington

Posted on: Dec 31, 2010, Source: Hightower Lowdown

We can have the kind of economy, government, environment, and country we want, if we keep pushing, organizing, building, and otherwise doing the work of democracy.

Meet Your New Neighborhood Food Market: A $400-billion-a-year Retail Behemoth

Posted on: Dec 6, 2010, Source: Other Words

With two million employees laboring in 8,500 stores spread around the globe, somehow Walmart is trying to put on a "local" mask.

Hightower: How Giant Crook Tom DeLay Finally Got What He Deserved

Posted on: Dec 1, 2010, Source: AlterNet

As the 12 jurors affirmed their "guilty" vote, DeLay was visibly stunned, unable to comprehend that someone of his importance could be treated just like a regular thief.

Hightower: How Wal-Mart, Google and Other Corporate Giants Are Trying to Trick Progressive Consumers

Posted on: Nov 17, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Large corporations are trying to put on a progressive face. Don't be fooled.

Simmering Water War: How New Power Plants Will Suck Our Water Sources Dry

Posted on: Nov 15, 2010, Source: Other Words

Boneheaded executives and greed-headed investors might be draining the fresh water supplies where you live.

Goldman Sachs Boss Complains About 'Only' Making $9 Million -- If Only We Had Problems Like That

Posted on: Nov 12, 2010, Source: AlterNet

The annual bonuses paid to Wall Street's top bankers keep rising, even with the economy in the tank.

Hightower: How Airlines Hate Their Customers

Posted on: Nov 9, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Airline executives are showing in myriad ways that they hate their customers.

Hightower: Stop the Bleeding in Afghanistan

Posted on: Oct 12, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Our soldiers have been fighting, bleeding and dying in two hellacious, multitrillion-dollar conflagrations since 2001 -- their blood continues to flow, with no end in sight.

Hightower: Wall Street Megalomaniacs Cry About Having to Pay Their Taxes

Posted on: Oct 6, 2010, Source: AlterNet

The most pampered people on the planet -- people who wallow in luxury, with never a concern about losing a job or getting their kids into college -- are wailing in self-pity.

Hightower: Is Death the Price of Having a Job? In Some Corporations It Seems Like It

Posted on: Sep 12, 2010, Source: Hightower Lowdown

Death ought not be the price of having a job. But corporate deaths are happening every day, and our "leaders" are accepting it. It's a national disgrace.

Hightower: If You Don't Fight for the Middle Class, Kiss It Good-Bye

Posted on: Sep 3, 2010, Source: AlterNet

America's corporate chieftains must love poor people, for they're doing all they can to create millions more of them. Let's put a stop to this.

Hightower: Wall Street Bankers Pull Off Another Regulatory Heist

Posted on: Aug 27, 2010, Source: AlterNet

The financial giants hired away nearly 150 regulators, luring them with fat salaries to switch sides and become industry lobbyists.

Jim Hightower: Who Do We Want? Elizabeth Warren! When Do We Want Her? Now!

Posted on: Aug 3, 2010, Source: AlterNet

We need someone who's not afraid to go up against the big banks and who won't be influenced by the money of Wall Street.

Hightower: Why Is No One Talking About the Real Tragedy Behind the Shirley Sherrod Fiasco?

Posted on: Jul 29, 2010, Source: AlterNet

The Shirley Sherrod fiasco didn't just expose ugliness on the part of Breitbart, Fox News and Obama. It also overshadowed another, truly racist act.

Hightower: Jobless People Suffer, While the GOP Helps the Rich Stay Rich

Posted on: Jul 14, 2010, Source: AlterNet

As personal economies keep shriveling, politicians are more interested in comforting the comfortable.

It's Not a Democracy Unless We Call It Our Own -- 6 Ways to Make It Happen

Posted on: Jul 7, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Let the ideas percolate up from a thousand localities!

Hightower: Republicans Have Big Oil in Their DNA

Posted on: Jun 30, 2010, Source: AlterNet

The two species have a natural affinity for each other. It's likely they sprang from the same genetic pool.

Time to Take on Sarah Palin, the Tea Party Screamers, and Their Corporate Masters With Real Populism

Posted on: Jun 21, 2010, Source: Hightower Lowdown

We must reclaim populism from dissemblers and hijackers because populism is a legitimate, positive, uniting political expression with a rich history.

Hightower: BP Is a Corporate Criminal

Posted on: Jun 16, 2010, Source: AlterNet

BP has been implicated in bribery, overthrowing governments, plunder and money laundering, plus having established one of the worst safety records in the industry.

Hightower: Who the Hell's in Charge Here? BP Disaster Caused by a Nasty Mix of Government Impotence and Corporate Rule

Posted on: Jun 2, 2010, Source: AlterNet

"What we're witnessing is not merely a human and environmental horror, but also an appalling deterioration in our nation's governance."

Hightower's "Icky" Awards -- Who Are the Greediest, Grossest Corporate Hogs?

Posted on: May 18, 2010, Source: AlterNet

This coveted corporate prize goes to the group of CEOs whose performances in the past 12 months exhibit the best combination of greediness, goofiness and grossness.

Hightower: The Right-Wing Loons Should Stop Blaming "God" for the Oil Spill

Posted on: May 12, 2010, Source: AlterNet

It wasn't God whose insatiable thirst for profit put a risky oil-pumping contraption afloat on mile-deep water. BP executives did that.

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