TheWiseOldFart

  Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart Republicans hate older Americans, including their own families. It is far more important to increase the bloated bank accounts of our nation’s 813 billionaires than to care for our elderly. What is “COLA?” This is the annual adjustment to Social Security checks, allegedly to account for inflation, which is a greater threat to seniors than any other group. Like my wife and I, our Social Security checks account for all or most of our monthly income. The increase is rarely enough to keep our quality of living consistent. However, Trump and his latest fascist appointee want to eliminate the two percent increase we receive each year, although our grocery store bill is 60 percent higher than it was a year ago. E.J. Antoni, who comes from the fascist extremist group, the Heritage Foundation, calls our annual increase a "Ponzi scheme." Obviously, he has no understanding how Social Security is funded or how it was intended to work. Social Security has been ba...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in 1935, it was the only perfect bill ever passed by congress. Its funding would not come from the taxpayers. It would be fully funded by contributions from employers and employees. Payments would be based on total contributions until the age of 65. To this day it has never been reported that any individual has lived long enough to receive the total of their contributions. So, it seems that the fund should have a surplus. However, when governments become involved, everyone suffers. After the Social Security Act became law, lawmakers began to embezzle funds which belong solely to the men and women who contributed to the program which was intended to provide retirement funding for all Americans. They added other programs, expecting to pay for them with the contributions of the working class. The correct and honest thing to do would have been the creation of new, separate programs. However, the gov...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart You heard the term and probably dismissed it. It doesn’t apply to or interest you. However, age discrimination is one of the most serious and overlooked crimes in America. America was a capitalistic society, but has become a plutocracy: rule by the super-rich. If a group of Americans do not produce commodities, which result in outrageous profits for their corporations, they are of little or no importance in the 21 st century. I’m not saying that I, or any other older American has no use after the age of 65 or 70. Quite the contrary. Personally, I have become physically disabled, but my mind is as sharp or sharper than it was 20 years ago. However, I know for a fact that if my physical disabilities did not exist, no one would hire me at the disgusting age of 79. But Trump is your president, and he is three weeks my senior. Millions of Americans support an elderly man who is clearly suffering from dementia. In 2009 I was hired by the Decennial Census. After I com...