The Sad Ballad of the Big Fool

The Sad Ballad of the Big Fool

Years ago, when America was mired in the horror of the Vietnam war, Pete Seeger wrote a lament about the stupidity and vanity of leaders who keep plunging us into such mindless disasters. It was a song about the Big Muddy: “The captain told us to ford a river,That’s how it all begun.We were knee deep in the Big MuddyBut the big fool said to push on. “It’ll be a little soggy, but just keep sloggingWe’ll soon be on dry ground.We were waist deep in the Big Muddy,And the big fool said to push on. “All we need is a little determination.Men, follow me, I’ll lead.We were neck deep in the Big MuddyAnd the big fool said to push on.” Unfortunately, the big fool is back, this time miring our nation in another of those witless wars of choice that he had ridiculed when running for President. But, doing the bidding of Israel’s corrupt government, Trump attacked Iran. He blustered that the “skirmish” would be over in days, Iran would surrender everything, our gasoline prices would go down, peace would blossom throughout the Middle East, and world leaders would rally ‘round America. None of that happened. Instead, Trump has splurged 25 billion of our dollars on this foray (so far), Iran’s leadership has outwitted Trump’s feckless Pentagon chief, and they now control the global price of oil. To divert attention from the embarrassment of his needless war, our huckster-in-chief is now doing PR events touting the “grandeur” of that billion-dollar luxury ballroom he wants to tack onto our White House – a rich-boy add-on that only the billionaire class will go into. Of all the things America actually needs, he is focused on a sparkly ballroom. And the big fool says to push on. Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe [https://jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Democrats: Don’t Forget That You’re Supposed to Be a Party!

Washington’s Democratic Party establishment keeps demanding that progressive members tone down their criticism of billionaire oligarchs and corporate autocrats. Why? Because the insiders want to rebrand the party as ideologically moderate. “Time to get serious,” they bark. Two things: First, on the ideology question, I’m with Woody Guthrie: “Right-wing, left-wing, chicken wing,” he said. I think Woody meant that most workaday people don’t put 10-cents worth of faith in doctrinaire promises of political ideologues. Rather, they’re looking for honest answers to the old labor song: “which side are you on” – the bosses, bankers, and billionaires, or the rest of us? Second, on the matter of seriousness, I find that both the Democratic party and the larger progressive movement have gotten way too serious. They’ve become lost in their latest 21-point plan, email “outreach” strategies, hourly fundraising targets, zoom meet-ups, and other digitalized corporate metrics of how-to-manipulate politics. But wait ­– what is “politics?” My dictionary says it’s “The science and art of forming a community effort to seek and exercise power in public affairs.” Why would we try to make such a spirited, unifying, social pursuit into a rote, tedious, manipulative “game”? Instead, what if Democrats actually brought people together, not to recite pre-cut positions, but around community interests? And let’s create events that people (especially newcomers) might want to go to – mix the politics and issues with a little food, beer, and wine, live music, and… well, fun. When I first ran for office, my lifelong co-conspirator, Susan DeMarco, came up with the perfect expression for such politicking. She said, “Let’s put the party back in politics!” Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe [https://jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Goofy Billionaires Cult Is Planning Our Post-Human Future

CGB stands for the Cult of Goofy Billionaires, and they are way, way, waaay goofier than you might imagine. I’m talking about prestigious, frontline, brand-name billionaires: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel, and other Silicon Valley Royals who perceive themselves as otherworldly geniuses. As such, they feel entitled to redesign your, my, and humanity’s future [https://oligarchwatch.substack.com/p/the-billionaires-who-think-humanity]– whether we want them to or not. So, for months, these techno-oligarchs have been furtively imposing a multitrillion-dollar network of invasive data centers all across America. Why? To power a whole new mechanomorphic species they call “generative AI chatbots.” Musk gushes that the super-intelligent bots will be “more human than humans” able to reproduce themselves, evolve, and displace us primitives in nearly every workplace. Which raises the question: Could this gaggle of billionaire megalomaniacs get any goofier? Gosh, yes! Musk, Thiel, and others have become disciples of a Swedish “philosopher” named Bostrom. He idealizes a “post-human future” in which us biological earthlings literally merge into the digital machine race. Indeed, Judd Legum [https://substack.com/profile/364398-judd-legum] investigative Substack, Oligarch Watch [https://open.substack.com/pub/oligarchwatch], reports that Musk has already launched a venture to produce implants to fuse human brains with computers. Meanwhile, Thiel, the PayPal/Palantir billionaire, says policymakers should stop worrying about little problems like world wars and climate change, for “transhumanism” technology will create a digital species that is immortal. He also warns ominously that anyone who tries to regulate AI is doing the bidding of “The Antichrist.” Then there’s Google’s goofy billionaire, Larry Page, who blithely says “if we let digital minds be free… the outcome is almost certain to be good.” Almost certain? Sure, Larry, unbridled tech never goes bad, right? Do something! The Electronic Frontier Foundation [https://www.eff.org/issues/ai] has been at the forefront of the fight to protect humans from and with tech advances for decades, and their work on the impact of AI is vital. Dive in here to join up with them [https://www.eff.org/issues/ai]. Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe [https://jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Corporate Giants Swindling $166 Billion From Consumers

Years ago, Ray Charles sang: “Them that’s got is them that gets, and I ain’t got nothin’ yet.” Millions of workaday Americans today are wailing that blues refrain, thanks to price increases caused by Donald Trump’s slap-happy tariff policy. He gloated that by imposing import levies of $166 billion on foreign companies, they would be forced to lower the prices they charge us. But, Professor Trump, nearly all tariffs are passed along to us consumers, so you’re raising our prices! Indeed, on average, his tariffs have jacked up costs for every American household by [https://www.cfr.org/articles/a-year-after-liberation-day-experts-review-the-costs-of-trumps-tariffs]about $1,500 a year [https://www.cfr.org/articles/a-year-after-liberation-day-experts-review-the-costs-of-trumps-tariffs]! But the Supreme Court has now decreed Trump’s tariffs illegal, so those who paid them are entitled to refunds. Great! Walmart rushed to the front of the line, demanding a $10 billion refund, while other giants are demanding paybacks of more than a billion each. But wait. What about you? Those corporations had paid Trump’s tariffs with money they got by raising prices on you and me. In short, WE THE CONSUMERS paid about 90 percent of that $166 billion out of our pockets. So where’s our refund? So far, only Costco has publicly pledged to pass the refund back to its customers [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/us/politics/companies-consumers-tariff-refunds.html], while other corporate giants just wink and pocket the cash. For example, a Walmart executive simply announced that [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/us/politics/companies-consumers-tariff-refunds.html]“[We will] certainly avail ourselves” of any refund process. Economists have a technical word for that process: “Stealing.” The Walmarts jack up their prices to pay for Trump’s tariff scam, then grab the refunds that workaday consumers are owed. As Ray Charles sang in another blues number: “Why you treat me so mean?” Do something Tired of corporations stealing from you? Our friends at Public Citizen have a whole catalog of resources [https://www.citizen.org/topic/globalization-trade/the-truth-about-tariffs/] dedicated to tariffs—get involved here [https://www.citizen.org/topic/globalization-trade/the-truth-about-tariffs/]. Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe [https://jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

How Immoral Have Corporate Bosses Become?

“Mingy” is a useful word. It merges stingy with mean, pretty well summing up the prevailing ethic of today’s corporate bosses. Take mingy CEOs of multibillion-dollar powerhouses like Amazon and 7-Eleven. They’ve been refusing to accommodate even the simplest needs of – get this – their pregnant employees. As the New York Times reports, women who’re heavy with child can suffer acute health crises if they’re on their feet too long. For example, a pregnant Amazon warehouse worker in upstate New York became breathless and lightheaded, so her doctor told her to work sitting down periodically. She got a chair and felt better. But uh-uh, an Amazon manager took her chair away and insisted she stand [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/well/live/pregnant-workers-amazon-speedway.html]! This caused her to be hospitalized several times. Then, Amazon fired her for having too many medical absences. Or take the 27-year-old pregnant check-out clerk at Speedway, the gas station chain owned by 7-Eleven. To ease the strain of standing for hours, she was allowed to sit on some milk crates as she worked the counter. No, barked higher-ups, who took her crates away. She soon had a pregnancy emergency, and her doctor told her not to work for several days. So, Speedway put her on “involuntary unpaid leave.” [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/well/live/pregnant-workers-amazon-speedway.html] But, technically she wasn’t fired, so the corporate giant prevented her from getting unemployment pay. This is corporate assault, targeting women in low-wage jobs. It’s so common that Congress had to pass a law, the “Pregnant Workers Fairness Act,” to say: Stop it! But it hasn’t stopped, for Trump officials are not eager to punish multimillion-dollar corporate bosses. But that raises the fundamental ethical question: Why don’t bosses stop themselves? Have I mentioned that “boss,” spelled backwards, is double-S-O-B? Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe [https://jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]