Jim Hightower's Common-Sense Commentaries

NAME THAT DRUG!

sitehelp AT jimhightower DOT com (Jim Hightower) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

What does the word Prozac say to you? Or Viagra? Yes, they're brand names for widely used prescription drugs, but how did they get those names?

Believe it or not, there is a naming industry. It consists of consulting firms that specialize in the art, science, and voodoo of helping pharmaceutical giants come up with monikers that supposedly will sear themselves into the public psyche, subliminally causing the consumers to feel positive about the product and demand that particular drug.

Sound hokey? Be your own judge. The consultants (who get paid up to $500,000 per drug name) insist that letters are imbued with psychological meaning. P,T, and K, they claim, convey effectiveness. Z is speed, X is scientific, and L is calming.

Take the antidepressant, Prozac. The honcho of Namebase, the branding firm that worked with Eli Lilly to name this drug, can get all worked up about the impact of just the first syllable. “Pro,” he explained to an AP reporter, “makes the speaker pucker up and push out a burst of air, which grabs attention and implies effectiveness.”

Hmmm. Would that burst of positiveness also apply to profane, profligate, procrastinate, promiscuous, and other “pro” words with negative meanings? But I’m not a naming consultant, so who am I to question?

Let’s move on to Viagra. Anthony Shore, who is “global director of naming” for another branding firm informs us that this appellation is all about power, causing gullible consumers to associate the product with Niagara Falls. On the other hand, another erectile dysfunction drug named Cialis is more of a metro-male term. Shore says that it is a smooth, fluid sound that conveys a sense of intimacy.

The word that comes to mind when I hear such claims by high-paid consultants is claptrap – conveying artifice, humbuggery, and a deep sense of being had.

CUT-RATE LABOR FOR ANY JOB

sitehelp AT jimhightower DOT com (Jim Hightower) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Just when you think that, surely, the offshoring craze has peaked, here come more stories of “Globalization Gone Wild.”

McClatchy Company, the California-based newspaper chain, has announced that it is outsourcing some of its jobs to India. Copyediting and design work for certain sections of its Miami Herald newspaper are being shipped to a New Delhi corporation with the mindboggling name of Mindworks Global Media. Ironically, part of the work to be handled 8,400 miles away from the Herald's readers is editing and design for a weekly section on community news.

But outsourcing is not just an American game. Waterford, the renown crystal maker that has been in Dublin, Ireland, since 1783, has built its reputation on the fine skills of its Irish glass masters. Now, however, it has cut its Dublin workforce in half and moved about a fifth of its production to Poland and the Czech Republic. The pricey, quintessentially Irish glassware – from chandeliers to champagne flutes –is being made in Eastern Europe by workers paid a fourth of what the Dublin artisans were paid. Waterford’s CEO says that prices for the faux Irish crystal will not be lowered, and insists that consumers won’t care where the crystal is made.

Maybe, but do couples care where their baby is made? Apparently not. There’s a growing global industry of outsourced pregnancies, with clinics in India making available young, very-low-income, local women to be surrogate mothers for well-off, infertile couples from America, Taiwan, Britain, and elsewhere. The couples provide the sperm, pay a fraction of the going rate for surrogate moms in the U.S., and – viola! – the “wombs for rent” clinics deliver a baby.

It’s all part of the globalization follies, where the wealthy can find workers at cut-rate costs to do any sort of labor they need.

CASHING IN ON PAYDAY LOANS

sitehelp AT jimhightower DOT com (Jim Hightower) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Bible tells us that Jesus drove the moneychangers out of the temple (for charging less, by the way, than we’re now assessed on our Visa and Mastercard bills).

Credit card rates of 20 percent or so are ridiculous – but what should we call an interest rate of 400 percent? “Rip-off” is too nice of a word. “Gouging” fits, but even it can’t convey the raw greed embodied in such a usurious rate for the use of money. Charging 400 percent should be called “criminal,” but lobbyists for the quick-cash industry have monkeywrenched state usury laws to make such loan-sharking legal in 40 states.

Worse, this legalized theft targets vulnerable, very-low-wage working people – those living paycheck to paycheck who can least afford to have their pockets picked. They typically are given a loan of $300, minus an upfront fee of about $50. Two weeks later, the full $300 is due. Often, they can’t pay, so they take out another high-interest loan and are sucked even-deeper into this lending whirlpool.

These “trapped borrowers” have become a lucrative profit center for the lenders – who by the way, are not fly-by-night, back-alley operators, but well-manicured executives with a gloss of corporate respectability. These quick-cash purveyors have about 24,000 flashy storefronts across the country, making them even more ubiquitous than Starbucks. They rack up $40 billion a year in revenues, maintain PR firms to perfume their practices, create political funds to grease necessary skids, and deploy armies of lobbyists to legalize their usury.

The good news is that states are beginning to rein in these payday hucksters by capping their interest rates at a merely outrageous level of 36 percent. For information, connect with the Center for Responsible Lending: 919-313-8500 or www.responsiblelending.org.

A CEO PERK FOR CEO PERKS

sitehelp AT jimhightower DOT com (Jim Hightower) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

You know what really PO’s me? Having to pay taxes on the free personal trips that I take on my company’s corporate jet.

Oh… wait. We don’t have a corporate jet. Still, I empathize – as I’m sure you do – with fat cat CEOs of big corporations who are happy to get free personal use of the company airplane, but are furious that they then have to pay taxes on the value of the rides they take. Our “intrusive” government, you see, counts free jet rides, company-paid country club dues, and other executive perks as extra compensation, which, therefore, is taxable.

Luckily, however, America’s clever CEO-class has found some suckers to whom they can pass this unwelcome tax tab: shareholders. Top corporate executives have devised a new perk for themselves with the appropriate name of “gross-up.” What it means is that the company – ie, the rank and file shareholders – pay the taxes that the honchos owe on their freebies. It’s a perk for receiving perks. See, in CEO-land, you can have your cake and eat it too!

Never mind that CEOs of major corporations now average some $15 million each in yearly pay. With that kind of cash, you’d think they could spring for their own tickets to Aspen or Paris, or at least cover their own income tax obligations for receiving the free trip.

But, no, these are the pampered princes of modern commerce, so the rules of personal responsibility don’t apply to them. A study by a watchdog group called The Corporate Library finds that 20 percent of the chieftains of major corporations are now taxing their shareholders for this gross-up perk.

For more information on the fun and games that CEOs play on shareholders, taxpayers, workers, and others, check with The Corporate Library: www.thecorporatelibrary.com.

THE PRICE OF IMPORTED SHRIMP

sitehelp AT jimhightower DOT com (Jim Hightower) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

“Giant shrimp” is said to be an oxymoron, but it’s also moronic that we’ve let shrimp become a giant problem in our world.

Welcome to the costly consequences of a globalized food supply. Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the U.S., and we have both top-quality shrimp and excellent shrimpers in America’s coastal waters. Yet, unbeknownst to average consumers, 80 percent of the shrimp we buy is imported, mostly from Asian nations.

The rational of the import industry (including such big marketers as Wal-Mart) is that it is much cheaper to get the product from Asia. Of course, as shoppers know, shrimp is not cheap at the retail level. Middlemen are skimming off the savings.

But there are other costs that the industry doesn’t mention. Start with the excessive carbon footprint created by shipping these crustaceans in refrigerated containers 8,000 miles or more to our shores. Add in the devastating losses suffered by local fishing communities when the Wal-Marts abandon American producers.

Nor is our surge in imports a boon to Asian people. A recent report on workers in Southeast Asian shrimp processing factories uncovers child labor, sexual abuse, debt bondage, forced overtime, and nonpayment of wages, describing some of the factories as “little short of medieval.”

Then there’s what we consumers get in the way of quality. As seafood imports have soared, Washington has refused to update and adequately fund the government’s antiquated inspection system. Less than one percent of the tons of shrimp entering our ports are even looked at, and only about a fifth of those are inspected. When a batch is tested, one of the common findings is that it’s contaminated with veterinary drugs, including cancer-causing nitrofurans.

Globalized food, you see, is a long way from being “cheap.” In fact, it's quite costly.

NEWSVERTISEMENTS

sitehelp AT jimhightower DOT com (Jim Hightower) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Perhaps you thought that television news programs couldn’t possibly get any cheesier, more corporate, or more driven by the big bucks of advertisers. If so, you have seriously underestimated the in-your-face cheesiness of the Fox affiliate in Las Vegas.

The morning news show on KVVU has literally given McDonald's a seat at the news desk. No, make that on the news desk. Placed in front of the news anchors are two big plastic cups of McDonald’s iced coffee, as though both anchors are so taken with the frosty drink that they bring their own to the set every morning.

Only, Jason and Monica never take a sip. They can’t, since the drinks are fake. They are a glaring product-placement advertisement paid for by the fast-food huckster, which wants the credibility of appearing to be a natural part of the “news.” Viewers are never told that the cups are an ad, and neither Fox nor McDonald’s will say how much gold exchanged hands to put the Golden Arches on the set each day.

But what if there’s a breaking news story involving the restaurant chain – like an outbreak of E.coli in the Big Macs, or some mistreatment of workers? Not to worry, say station executives, because in that case the cups would be temporarily displaced from the news desk. See – and you thought there were no ethics left in journalism.

Otherwise, the corporate suits running the place see no problem with this little deceit or with the further slippage of news into the dark hole of advertising. It’s merely a “nontraditional revenue source,” says KVVU’s news director.

Lest you think this is a Las Vegas problem, McDonald’s also has similar placement deals with Fox stations in Chicago and Seattle, as well as with Univision in New York City. Maybe this advance in “newsvertisements” will make it to your town too.

MIGHTY MONSANTO GIVES UP

sitehelp AT jimhightower DOT com (Jim Hightower) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Every now and then, reason, outrage, determination, and citizen activism combine to defeat the forces of avarice and arrogance. This is one of those times – children, organic farmers, and cows have just triumphed over mighty Monsanto and its political handmaidens.

For years, this biotech behemoth has thrown its ample weight around in Washington, in courthouses, in the media, and in state governments, trying to force Americans to swallow Posilac. You wouldn’t know the name of this artificial growth hormone, because Monsanto spent millions trying to hide it from consumers – an odd strategy for a corporation marketing a product.

But Posilac is not a product that people wanted. It’s essentially a bioengineered sex hormone that’s injected into dairy cows to force their bodies to produce more milk. It’s not at all healthy for the cows, it provides no health benefits (and possibly causes serious harm) for humans, and mothers never warmed up to the idea of pouring a daily dose of sex-hormone milk for their children.

Thus, the corporation weaseled its way into government, getting a ruling that Posilac milk did not have to be labeled as such. That was not enough though, since farmers, dairy processors, and retailers began labeling their products as free of the artificial hormone. So, Monsanto tried suing them and tried to get the feds and state officials to outlaw the hormone-free labels.

But people fought back, and even such giants as Wal-Mart responded to consumer rejection of Posilac by selling undoctored milk in its stores. So, Monsanto has now thrown in the towel, announcing that it is quitting its Posilac business.

This is Jim Hightower saying …This is a major victory for ordinary folks who simply said “no,’ refusing to be bullied or hornswaggled by the flexing of corporate muscle. For more information, call the Center for Food Safety: 202-547-9359.

BIG OIL’S NEW DARLING

sitehelp AT jimhightower DOT com (Jim Hightower) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

John McCain built his maverick image in part by being a Republican senator who’s willing to go against Big Oil. As recently as June 13, he had this to say about the petro giants: “I am very angry, frankly, at the oil companies, not only because of the obscene profits they’ve made, but at their failure to invest in alternate energy to help us eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.”

Good stuff! McCain has long stood up to oil corporations on such big issues as their demand that we open all of America’s shorelines to their drilling rigs. But, suddenly, that John McCain has disappeared. On June 16 – only three days after his “angry” speech – he made another talk in which he reversed his position. “My friends, we have to drill offshore,” he now says. “We have to do it.”

Really? Why? Because, he explains, “The oil executives” told him it would be a good thing.

Wait… I thought he was angry at those thieves. Not any more. You see, right after his June 16th flip-flop speech, he flew off to Texas for a round of fundraisers with – guess who? – oil executives! On June 17th, for example, he had a closed-door luncheon with energy honchos at the San Antonio Country Club – and walked out with a love offering of $1.3 million for his presidential campaign.

A McCain spokesman rushed out to assert that it is “completely absurd” for anyone to suggest that the senator’s switch on drilling had anything to do with oil money. Well, maybe he’s confused by the “position=money” relationship of politics, but the oil barons definitely are not. Prior to McCain’s miraculous conversion, they had not been big backers of the senator, but once they heard his new position, the money spigots opened.

As one advisor to oil companies said of McCain’s switch: “I think the industry was very appreciative.”

THE MESSAGE OF DOHA

sitehelp AT jimhightower DOT com (Jim Hightower) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Most Americans never heard of the Doha Round, and if they did catch the name they might assume that it’s some sort of donut.

Unfortunately, it’s nothing so sweet. Instead, this was another round of global trade negotiations by corporate and governmental elites, intended to hang more NAFTA and WTO around our necks. But something unexpected happened at these closed door talks, named for the city in Qatar where the negotiations were held. The talks failed.

The collapse was not due, as most of the media reported, to a squabble over farm subsidies and agricultural markets. The reason was bigger (and simpler): such emerging economic powers as China, India and Brazil are no longer cowed by America’s high-strutting corporate might, no longer willing to succumb to rules rigged to benefit Wall Street and Wal-Mart, no longer willing to sacrifice their people and their values on the alter of voracious predatory capital.

This remarkable balking at the old corporate order is coming not out of anger, but from a position of strength, which the designers of the Western-style trading regimen never anticipated. Latin America, for example, is no longer a patsy – many of its economies are burgeoning and its leaders forward-looking. Then there’s China, a rising giant in every economic segment, no longer relegated to the assembly of low-cost export products.

Leaders of these nations now pointedly reject lectures from U.S. bankers and government officials about how they should organize their economies. After all, from unregulated mortgage speculators to Washington’s massive bailouts of bankers, the corporate model of unfettered greed is now being exposed for what it is.

For America to regain its moral authority abroad, we must re-establish it at home, returning to our historic values of economic fairness, social justice, and equal opportunity for all.

FOR REPUBLICAN LEADER, PRINCIPAL TRUMPS PRINCIPLE

sitehelp AT jimhightower DOT com (Jim Hightower) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Time for another Gooberhead Award, presented periodically to people in the news who have their tongues running 100-miles per hour… but forgot to put their brains in gear.

Today’s Goober is John Boehner, the Republican leader of the U.S. House. He’s been on a political rampage, demanding that Congress pass a bill allowing oil corporations to drill in America’s public parks and protected coastal waters.

But he hasn’t gotten his way, and when Congress adjourned for an August recess, Boehner called for his Party’s members to stay on the House floor in protest. “We must continue to make a stand,” he proclaimed, insisting that Republicans would remain on the floor “every day” during the vacation period, making speeches and demanding action from the Democratic leaders of the House. "Every day," Boehner reiterated for emphasis.

It turns out, though, that “every day” did not include the Gooberhead himself. After telling colleagues that “we” must make a stand, he promptly flew off for an extended golfing vacation. Known as “Suntan Johnny” because of the year-around brown glow he has as a result of frequent golf outings with lobbyists, Boehner was even posting his August golf scores online while his fellow members were back in Washington.

Asked about the contradiction (if not outright hypocrisy) of asking others to stand in protest while the leader went golfing, a spokesman explained that one of Boehner’s golf events was not just a casual round – it was a fundraiser for his political action committee. “Canceling it,” he said in horror, “would have cost tens of thousands of dollars.”

So there you have it. Standing on principle (even a screwy one) is essential… unless a fundraiser calls you away. In that case, the principal of capital trumps any principled stand taking place at the capitol. It’s a matter of what’s important to you.