ArcaMax

A gaggle of self-righteous multimillionaires is now in charge of America's poverty agencies and policies, and they've been flaunting their deeply held ignorance about poor families -- almost none of whom they actually know.

Consider the national embarrassment of Brooke Rollins, a patrician ideologue, who is President Donald Trump's plutocratic Secretary of Agriculture. Besides promoting a corporatized food and farm system, Rollins is advocating a program of back-to-the-future peonage for poor people. "We have way too many people that are taking government program that are able to work," she snorts.

Bad grammar aside, she falsely asserts that "34 million able-bodied adults" are freeloading on public health care. They're taking Medicaid benefits that they ought to have to "earn" by hard labor, she recently decreed. Her Dickensian solution: Put the moochers to work in the fields!

Noting that Trump's militarized assault on immigrants has terrorized agricultural workers, thus creating a farm labor crisis, Rollins wants to hitch America's poor families to the plow. Voila -- labor shortage solved, and the poor are forced to earn their medical care. What a brilliant leader!

Except for her rank ignorance. First, 64% of Medicaid recipients are already working, and nearly all of the rest are retirees, unable to work or struggling to find jobs. Second, she's obviously unaware that agriculture is skilled work -- you can't just bus city and suburban people out to the country and say, "grow stuff."

And third, it is beyond arrogant for a rich government autocrat -- who takes $220,000 a year from taxpayers, plus platinum healthcare benefits and a fat pension -- to be pontificating about forcing "undeserving" poor into hot fields to produce a nice leafy salad for her lunch.

34-33B Elon Musk's $30-billion Ride on the Corporate Merry-Go-Round

Is Elon Musk OK?

Just a few months ago, the prancing right-winger was constantly in the news. Today, though -- poof! -- he has vanished from media coverage. But fret not -- Elon Musk always finds money to take care of Number One. Indeed, this month, he was handed a $30 billion pay raise by his car company. Yes, BILLION.

Odd, since his stewardship of Tesla in the past couple of years has been disastrous. Sales, profit, quality and market share are in the ditch, along with his reputation. Yet, in a gushing letter to shareholders, the corporation's board of directors asserted that its $30 billion handout was a "critical" gesture to induce Elon to show up for work. Apparently, $29 billion would not have been enough.

Who are these board members who supposedly "govern" the corporation and its CEO? One is Kimbal Musk. Yes, Elon's brother! Others are close pals and lackeys, each of whom is extravagantly paid. For example, the board member who "negotiated" that ridiculous giveaway to His Supremeness has pocketed more than half a billion dollars in profits from Tesla stock options she has been granted.

Well, declare apologists for Musk and his captive board, if $30 billion was excessive, the shareholders who technically own Tesla could've sued to stop payment. Uh ... no, they couldn't. Last year, Musk relocated Tesla's official headquarters to Texas, where the corrupt governor dutifully passed a law stipulating that only shareholders owning at least three percent of the stock can sue on matters of corporate governance. Basically, that eliminates all shareholders except Musk.

And that's how the corporate merry-go-round is rigged to keep spinning around and around and around.

To find out more about Jim Hightower and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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