Arrogance and Ignorance by Corporate America Will End its Success and the Continued Rape of Consumers

 

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart

 

Grocery prices, up more than 30 percent: Energy bills raised by more than 50 percent: Tickets for movies increased by 100 percent or more: Tickets for sporting events and concerts higher by as much as 1,000 percent: Amusement Parks have increased they prices to a level completely unaffordable to the average family: and Restaurant prices have become too expensive, preventing anyone from enjoying the experience more than once or twice a year. The Social Security increase for 2024 was a meager 3.2 percent. All these facts are the result of corporate greed and their arrogance which allows them to believe that their bloated profits will continue to increase.

Capitalism and its extension, a plutocracy, cannot exist if the nation’s citizens lack an income which allows them to purchase goods and services. Both the 2010 and 2020 Decennial Census exposed one fact which could end corporate dominance in America. Accounting for inflation, the average American worker has not received a raise over the last two-three decades. One half of all Americans survive in the low income or poverty levels of our society.

My situation proves this fact. My bride and I rely on Social Security, which we and our employers paid for over more than four decades. This is not an entitlement, it is earned income which was taxed and in some situations is being taxed once again by our corrupt government. Over the last six years our expenses for necessities to sustain life have increased by an average of more than 40 percent. In 2023 we received an increase of 8.5 percent. In 2024 the increase will be just 3.2 percent. Now consider this. We cannot receive government assistance in many areas because “we make too much money.” Our gross annual income in 2024 will be $36,252 combined. The average income for an American family of two in 2023 is $75,143.

In 2023 the average house payment is $2317. The average rent for an apartment is $1372. The average cost of utilities is $469 each month. For a family of only two, the cost of food in America for two people ranges between $510-$820, depending on the state. Add to these necessities the cost of phone service, car insurance, health insurance, maintenance, HOA fees, internet fees, and tell me how my wife and I survive at ages 77 and 73. I amaze myself every month as we carefully budget our meager income.

We seniors have become a target of our government and the corporations they support. Few of us have the ability to make extra income, and an increase in food prices alone has placed a strain on our ability to survive. Not only have prices risen, there is a lesser quantity in the packages we purchase. A “pound” of bacon contains 12 ounces. The same is now true for a “half gallon of ice cream. This has become a universal practice among all companies which produce the items needed to nourish our physicality.

It has been more than a decade since my wife and I ate at a restaurant or ordered food delivered from anyone. We haven’t attended a movie theater in nearly 20 years other than one time when we were gifted tickets by a friend. And after viewing the movie, I was glad we didn’t have to pay for it. It was awful. At least when I watch a movie at home I can see previews and decide if I want to pay five dollars for it.

Today, in 2023, one half of our nation’s government is so far to the right they have adopted fascist philosophies. This is needed to protect the current plutocracy which is in control of our nation today.

America is rapidly becoming a third-world country as more and more Americans struggle to survive paycheck to paycheck. Meanwhile, everything costs more. Most importantly, the cost of healthcare in the U.S. is the most expensive in the world and the least effective. I leave you with a single fact, which reveals the truth which no one wants to talk about.

The average cost for one night’s stay in a hospital in America in 2023 is $2883. In 2019 it was $6326, and in 2020 it rose to $2847. It’s much cheaper to die, because if you are hospitalized for three days you will probably become homeless and succumb to death living in a cardboard box.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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