ArcaMax

The federal budget is not only about money, but fundamentally about our country's morality -- our commitment to fairness, equality and unity.

Which brings me to, of all things, our nation's Farm Bill. This sprawling piece of legislation, updated every five years, is intended to combine the interests of farmers with consumers, production with conservation, grassroots cultures with corporate systems ... etc. It's not easy. In fact, downright messy.

But now, with plutocratic ideologues and culture warriors dominating their caucus, Republican lawmakers have not even been able to produce an agreement among themselves, so the comprehensive farm bill America needs is a year overdue and no longer being pursued by the party in charge. Instead, the GOP's ag committee chairman, Rep. Glenn Thompson, is jerry-rigging a stripped-down sham of a bill limited to the two spending priorities of MAGA Republicans:

No. 1: Hand out many billions more of our taxpayers' dollars to subsidize agribusiness giants and rich speculators who own the biggest farms, mainly because they'll then keep funding and voting for Republicans.

No. 2: Whack America's poorest families. Thompson is banking on the minginess of extremist Republicans who oppose the Ag Department's hunger programs. Those programs help 40 million poverty-stricken Americans (including 1 in 5 children) afford the groceries they need.

So, there we have the GOP's farm bill ethics -- cut the poor to give more to the rich in order to buy votes for more of the same. The word for this is "corrupt." Also, "cruel."

Indeed, it takes an exceptional level of political shamelessness to steal food from the hungry to fatten some of the richest people in our country. To fight their depravity, go to ruralorganizing.org.

TRUMP BACKS RIP-OFF CREDIT CARD FEES. MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN?

Top officials of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau erupted in cheers this month.

How odd. The cheers were for a federal court that had just ruled in favor of letting big banks gouge us with exorbitant fees when we're late making a credit card payment. Bizarrely, agency officials joined jubilant bank executives in declaring, "This is a win for consumers."

Huh? The court's blatantly plutocratic ruling lets financial giants slap us credit card customers with punitive fees of $32 or more for every late payment. The court is legalizing their consumer robbery, allowing credit card lenders to pluck an extra $10 billion a year in excess fees from our pockets. Adding to their shame, the profiteering bankers will mainly squeeze this windfall from low-paid working families who are living paycheck to paycheck, having to rely on credit to make ends meet.

So why in hell are the government's consumer protectors cheering this? Because these officials are no longer "ours," but corporate operatives that have been installed by President Donald Trump's brigade of billionaires. The supreme goal of their autocratic government is to further empower the rich.

Indeed, displacing consumer protectors with agents who'll protect corporations from consumers was an explicit goal of Project 2025. That extremist manifesto was co-authored by Russell Vought, a fanatical right-wing politico from the Christian Nationalist cult. What's he doing now? Trump has put Vought in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Thus, a national agency meant to help average consumers have a bit more of a fighting chance against financial greed has been perverted by Trump into just another tool helping moneyed elites rip off working families. How great does that make America?

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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