The Hightower Report

Obama Feels Wall Street's Pain

Guess who's whining the loudest these days, wailing that they're getting a raw deal from Barack Obama?

Not the unemployed and barely employed – even though the White House has blithely ignored their critical need for a national jobs program. Not the poor, even though their ranks are swelling as millions of Americans fall out of the middle class.

No, no, the most insistent demand for attention is coming from way above the poor and the middle class. Believe it or not, it's the CEOs of America's biggest corporations and the top bankers of Wall Street who are stamping their little Gucci-clad feet, bawling that they should be getting more love and support from the president.

It seems that the feelings of these precious ones have been hurt by Obama's occasional condemnation of the stupefying greed that's been shown by the likes of health insurance executives and Wall Street banksters. As one CEO put it, Obama's attitude "felt too much like we were the bad guys."

Yoo-hoo, Mr. Multimillionaire Executive: You are! Corporate chieftains are ruthlessly downsizing the middle class, carelessly polluting our air and water, gleefully destroying our democracy by using their corrupting corporate money to buy our government, and generally feeling entitled to run roughshod over everyone – all while pocketing obscene levels of wealth for themselves. Yet they're the ones crying?

These guys are a pathetic bunch of narcissists with a sense of entitlement. Obama ought to send each of them a box of Kleenex and tell 'em to go to hell. But unfortunately, he's no Harry Truman. So instead, he's giving in to them! "[I intend] to make clear to the business community ... that the most important thing we can do is to boost and encourage our business sector," he recently announced. Hello! They're doing fine. The most important thing you can do is boost America's middle class.

Do Apples Need a Remake?

Wow! Another astonishing scientific breakthrough has been made! "The benefit is something that can be identified just about by everybody," exulted Neal Carter, who helped produce this long-awaited advance for humankind.

Is it a cure for cancer? No, bigger than that. Is it a free, clean, perpetual source of energy? No, bigger even than that. What we have here are – are you ready? – apple slices that don't turn brown!

Is this fabulous or what? Nonbrowning apple slices – another marvel from the biotechnology profiteers who love to mess with the genetic makeup of the world's food supply. And this is truly a global accomplishment. The science of nonbrowning was pioneered in potatoes by Australian gene-splicers who licensed it to Carter, a Canadian peddler of apple trees who hopes that American apple growers will now rip out their old-fashioned natural orchards and plant these biotech wonders of modern science.

But it's going to be a hard sell. "Genetically modified," said Todd Fryhover, the head of Washington state's apple commission. "That's a bad word in our industry." He's referring to the fact that consumers routinely reject foods they know to be altered. In fact, consumers are demanding more organic production, not stuff from a gene factory.

Also, Carter could not have chosen a worse product to turn into a lab rat. Apples are the very symbol of nutrition and health, a perfect snack for children. Why mess with them? Besides, mothers know that a little lemon juice is all it takes to keep apple slices from browning.

This technology has no benefit for consumers, but it could fatten the bottom line of big-box retailers, allowing them to sell old, inferior apples that look fresh only because they're still white. To learn more, call the Center for Food Safety at 202/547-9359.