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

The Scam Of Homeland Security

Posted on: Dec 2, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Homeland Security might be a new agency, but it's the product of the same old corrupt politics.

The Symbol Of Wall Street Greed

Posted on: Nov 24, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Gosh, I miss Harvey. The one election night loss that I most lament is that of Harvey Pitt. His name wasn't even on the ballot, but he was a goner before the polls closed.

Bush's Push for the Corporate Agenda

Posted on: Nov 24, 2002, Source: AlterNet

The scam is on! Bush and his congressional operatives are preparing to rush through a whole trainload of legislative nasties, claiming that George W has won a "mandate" for his total corporate agenda.

Eaters of the World, Unite

Posted on: Nov 24, 2002, Source: Hightower Lowdown

As we gather around Thanksgiving tables this year, we can be thankful that, while the profiteers and politicians are headed one way with our food system, We the People are going in quite another direction.

What's In A Name?

Posted on: Nov 17, 2002, Source: AlterNet

The corporate milk giants behind the "Got Milk?" campaign are trying to entice a small town to change its name to Got Milk, California. Does commercialism have no limits?

Wanted 120 Million Voters

Posted on: Nov 17, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Sixty-one percent of the electorate stayed home on Election Day this year, thanks to the repugnance of big-money corporate politics. But the real lesson to be learned is that this majority will be a political powerhouse to anyone who can organize them.

Making Children Sick

Posted on: Nov 11, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Food-borne bacteria kill 14 Americans a day, hospitalize nearly 900 more, and Bush is still siding with meat-packing corporations to oppose better inspections.

Deforming Corporate Reforms

Posted on: Nov 10, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Bush's picks for the SEC's Accounting Oversight board is a hand-picked group of Washington insiders ready to scratch each other's backs, pretending to push reform, but quietly making sure that nothing really changes

The FEC's "Soft-money" Flood

Posted on: Nov 3, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Like flood waters, political corruption takes the path of least resistance. And just when you think you've got the corruption dammed up, it squirts out somewhere else.

Weaseling On Corporate Reform

Posted on: Nov 3, 2002, Source: AlterNet

How else to explain the cynical flip-flop behind George's decision to gut the very corporate reform legislation he had so loudly taken credit for only three months ago?

Earth to Washington

Posted on: Oct 27, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Could the administration possibly take a minute or two from beating their chests and trying to out-do each other with their war whooping against Saddam Hussein to notice that we've got a little problem here on the homefront?

The Pitiful Harvey Pitt

Posted on: Oct 27, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Harvey can't seem to get the hang of being on the public's side.

W Goes To War

Posted on: Oct 20, 2002, Source: AlterNet

I don't know whether to scream or laugh when George W gets up on his little war pony and starts screeching that "we've" got to go to war in Iraq.

Dollar Bill Phil Cashes In

Posted on: Oct 20, 2002, Source: AlterNet

"Dollar Bill Phil," the money-grubbing senator from Texas whose 24-years in Congress were notable mainly for his, shall we say, "coquettish" willingness to do legislative favors for corporations.

Bush Gets Hot About Global Warming

Posted on: Oct 10, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Never mind that the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is all too real of a threat, Bush can't be convinced.

The Bloated Egos Of CEOs

Posted on: Oct 10, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Think the wave of corporate scandals will chasten executives? Think again.

Censoring the Opposition

Posted on: Oct 6, 2002, Source: AlterNet

If a press conference is held and the media doesn't cover it ... does it make a sound?

Stooping To Ever-lower Corporate Lows

Posted on: Oct 6, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Just when you thought corporate greed could not get any more slimy ... here comes Dennis Kozlowski rising out of the ooze.

The Chickenhawk Database

Posted on: Sep 29, 2002, Source: AlterNet

If you're a Bush, there's nothing like an Iraq attack to deflect your political problems.

Bush's War On Longshoremen

Posted on: Sep 29, 2002, Source: AlterNet

In 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed the law creating Labor Day as a national holiday.

Jack's Ritzy Retirement

Posted on: Sep 22, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Rest assured, Jack Welch, the now-retired CEO of General Electric is doing just fine.

Bush's Dangerous Dance With Dictators

Posted on: Sep 22, 2002, Source: AlterNet

For a guy who claims to be a "rancher," George W sure is stepping in a lot of cow patties.

Hershey Is Not Just A Candy Bar

Posted on: Sep 15, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Time for another Gooberhead Award [Beanie cap breakdown] - presented periodically to someone in the news who has their tongue going 100 miles per hour ... but forgot to put their brains in gear.

George's Egyptian "Friend"

Posted on: Sep 15, 2002, Source: AlterNet

In politics, it's often not your enemies that cause you the most grief ... it's your friends.

The American Way

Posted on: Sep 8, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Exploding in rebellion is the most American thing one can do. And it's the only way to preserve a democracy under siege by corporate interests.

Cutting The Cords of Global Corporate Rule

Posted on: Sep 8, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Excuse me, but who the hell elected the WTO to write the laws of We the People of the United States of America?

Wave Our Flag

Posted on: Sep 2, 2002, Source: AlterNet

The U.S. flag represents the flag of the pamphleteers, Sons of Liberty, the abolitionists and suffragists, Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr. -- freedom-fighters all.

Congress Just Keeps Going

Posted on: Sep 2, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Sen. Thad Cochran and Rep. Charles Stenholm showed their dediction to the job post-9/11 by going on congressional junkets backed by lobbyists and attending horse races.

The People Speak On Enron

Posted on: Aug 28, 2002, Source: AlterNet

The people want everything when in comes to Enron -- from appointing a special prosecutor to giving money made on the scandal back to the investors they duped.

The Cheney-Iraq Axis Of Money

Posted on: Aug 28, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Is it possible that while Dick Cheney postures politically, he has previously profited from playing corporate footsie with the country that he now brands a terrorist state? Yes.

USDA Gets a Real Clod

Posted on: Aug 18, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Looks like Dubya has picked a winner in Thomas Dorr, the new Undersecretary for Rural Development. He's already rigged his books and was forced to return money owed to the government.

The Real Economy

Posted on: Aug 18, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Bush brags he sat with "ordinary people" at the Economic Forum. Too bad the ordinary people included fat cat CEOS like Charles Schwab, who's given $400,000 to Bush and the GOP.

Congress Does It Again

Posted on: Aug 11, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Congress is giving itself a nice $5,000 pay hike thanks to a sneaky little appropriation bill for the Treasury Department it passed rather quietly.

Bush's Social Security Fantasies

Posted on: Aug 11, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Dubya's telling Americans to entrust their Social Security funds with private investment groups owned and managed by irresponsible corporations like Merrill Lynch and Citigroup.

Why Shouldn't the Polluters Pay?

Posted on: Aug 4, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Bush is calling the polluter tax -- a tax on corporations that contaminate the air, water and communities -- "burdensome." Worse, he's unloading the costs onto taxpayers.

The Disneyfication of Downtown

Posted on: Aug 4, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Developers are turning new downtowns -- flush with corporate chains like GAP and Starbucks -- into a cartoonish, inauthentic version of American downtowns of yesteryear.

Ignoring the Real Corporate Abuse

Posted on: Jul 28, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Power corrupts -- and absolute power corrupts absolutely -- and it's this overbearing corporate power that has to be addressed in the wake of dirty corporate practices.

More Tax Deform

Posted on: Jul 28, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Representative Bill Thomas' proposal allows corporate tax dodgers to avoid paying their tax share by simply acquiring a mailbox in Bermuda or filing papers in Barbados.

Stop the Corporate Takeover of our Water

Posted on: Jul 23, 2002, Source: Hightower Lowdown

Corporations are determined to turn our most essential resource into another commodity for traders and speculators.

Why George W. Loves Harvey

Posted on: Jul 21, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Harvey Pitt, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, who's supposed to keep Wall Street bankers, brokers and accountants in line, is more lapdog than watchdog.

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