The Data Center Revolt Is a Populist Rebellion Against Corporate Rule

Jim Hightower on Aug 5, 2026

Not that it matters, but sometimes I wonder if the billionaire potentates of artificial intelligence ever wonder why they've become so despised.

I doubt it, since introspection doesn't seem to be in the DNA of hubristic AI demigods like Bezos, Musk and Zuckerberg. Nor are they programming such qualities into their "superintelligent bots."

So, let me help them see themselves. First, today's eruptions of public hatred toward them are not, as they want us to believe, just petty jealousy by people who want to be like them. Really ... be like Musk? His ugliness is not just skin-deep -- it emanates from his inner core.

Such aloof AI profiteers have sparked a nationwide prairie fire of anger by plundering local water supplies, farmland, electric power and tax subsidies. They're callously treating our communities as nothing more than a series of financial transactions for them to consummate. But people's rebellion is not merely about monetary prices and property. Fundamentally, it's fueled by corporate elites' total disregard for the basic human value of fairness.

Even pre-school children comprehend the moral implication of "That's not fair!" The corporate gold rush to an AI future is not about the mystical possibilities of technology, but old-fashioned greed -- moneyed elites grabbing more profits and control. And there's nothing fair about either.

The spreading rebellion against AI arrogance is raising a politically explosive moral question: "Who the Hell elected you selfish screw-ups to dictate our future?" Musk & Co. say they don't even believe in democracy, so why would We the People let them remake society in their totalitarian image? To join your local rebellion, go to jimhightower.com/datacenters.

CORPORATE CEOS DEMAND BIG BUCKS -- PLUS NICKELS AND DIMES

Until recently, corporate executives were eager to demonstrate how "green" they were. But then came President Donald Trump, trashing the very idea of a green economy.

So, to appease the vengeful Republican, obsequious CEOs rushed to dump their green principles. Except for one especially verdant area of the corporate culture: CEO compensation. As widely reported, top executive pay has surged during the Trump regime.

But wait, they want more, so other tendrils of executive pay have sprouted and grown like Jack's beanstalk, further separating those at the top from the rest of us. Wall Street Journal reporters have uncovered some $600 million in executive perks that big corporations shelled out to their honchos last year.

For example, investors in Apollo, the avaricious Wall Street huckster, laid out nearly a million for luxury limo and chauffeur services so their billionaire CEO wouldn't have to open the car door by himself. For tax purposes, Apollo called this a "security measure," rather than the pompous plutocratic perk it is.

Already overpaid, these royals have come to expect all of life's needs and whims to be covered, including:

-- $121,000 in free tickets to ballgames to please the multimillionaire chief of Roto-Rooter, who is said to be "a huge sports fan."

-- $20,000 in booze for the head of a liquor conglomerate, which insists the freebie is awarded to enhance the boss' "knowledge of the product."

-- And a $492 payout to cover the maintenance cost on a home generator for the chief of Hewlett Packard -- who is paid $23 million a year.

An old adage claims that it's the little things that matter ... and these CEO entitlements show just how little corporate "leaders" have become.

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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