Don’t Believe the Government’s Lies, “Greedflation” is Growing in America

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart

 

My wife and I did two things today. I purchased gas for our truck, and she went grocery shopping. We live in Northern Nevada, and we are both in our 70s. Gas is nearly four-and-one-half dollars a gallon, about 20 cents higher than the last time I went to the gas station. Our grocery bill was over 30 percent higher than last week. We noticed that several items, no luxuries, had risen by more than 50 cents each, To make it worse, many of the packaged goods were higher in price but the content was less.

Last year our COLA increase for social security was 8.7 percent. However, the reality is that our personal cost of living has increased by 15-18 percent. I learned the increase for this year is expected to be about three percent. This is another form of “agism” by our uncaring government.

What is continuing to happen is “Greedflation.” After we survived the Covid-19 pandemic, America’s corporations took advantage of the privilege given to them by those who were elected to represent us in Washington and raised prices on everything unnecessarily. If you know anything about our government today, you know that capitalism is dead and our country is ruled by a plutocracy. Our government has surrendered its power to the super-rich and this is why we are last in the quality of life within developed nations.

I was a stupid man for most of the 48 years I worked for a living. With the exception of a short number of years when I had my own business, I gave my all with little or no appreciation for my efforts. When I was self-employed, I learned that my business partners were dishonest, and never valued my efforts. My employers stuffed money in their pockets, declining to share any of their riches with me.

My last serious employment was with the Decennial Census between March of 2009 and October of 2010. This was the only government job in which I was employed. During a debriefing in Las Vegas 2010, I was asked if I would work for the Decennial Census in 2020. I said, “no f**king way.” In management I worked more than 60 hours each week but only received pay for forty. When it was completed, the temporary workers across the nation had saved our government more than two-billion dollars. Permanent census employees received bonuses, but we received nothing.

The truth is that most Americans live to work, not work to live. Half of our nation’s people struggle below the poverty line or in the low-income bracket. Every nation in the free world has free or very inexpensive healthcare, free or low-cost education, family leave, and mandatory vacations other than the United States.

Our government is more concerned about the profits of large corporations than the quality of life for the majority.

Our current “Greedflation” is making my life and my wife’s life far more difficult. Our “golden years” have been reduced to scrap metal.

Op-ed by James Turnage

Find my nine novels here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/James-Turnage/author/B00LOCJ2Z2?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true