TheWiseOldFart

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart My America, the nation I loved for most of my life, is nearing its end. Not a single agency tasked with the protection of our nation’s people and the preservation of the Constitution is willing to do the right thing and end the dictatorship of one man, the worst individual in the world, Donald John Trump. However, for once, I write an article which is not about the orange buffoon. This is the America I will always remember. As an original baby boomer, I was a typical child raised in the 1950’s and 1960’s. As a young man, my greatest loves were baseball, basketball, and football. Growing up in Los Angeles, I was very excited when I learned that the Brooklyn Dodgers were moving to my hometown. Major League Baseball was my first passion as a young man. I made it my primary goal to learn about the players who would soon become the Los Angeles Dodgers. These were the early days of television. We didn’t get to watch many of the Dodger’s games in 1958 or 1959, unless t...

  Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart The quality of life for most Americans is in steep decline. Trump refused to keep his number one promise and “end inflation on day one.” We, the people, are beginning to feel the pain from Trump’s moronic tariffs. Most importantly, the average American cannot afford to buy a home or rent a decent apartment in 2025. I live in Northern Nevada. Nevada has a hypocritical, lying bastard of a governor. Joe Lombardo is a “Trump lackey” and kisses his Fuhrer’s humongous ass constantly. He paid ordinary citizens to lie in an ad designed to increase the bank accounts of our state’s home builders. The ad was a big lie, claiming that more availability would lower the costs of homes and apartment rentals. The new apartments near my home are ridiculously expensive. A one-bedroom rents for about $1,700 per month. Incomes in Northern Nevada are far lower than the national average. One-half of all Americans struggle to survive on an annual income which is far below the nat...

The last words of our nation’s National Anthem are, “O-er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” One word no longer applies. In the 21 st century, only one percent of all 340 million people experience the American dream, and the core reason our country was the most respected country in the world. That word is “freedom.” I am 78 years old, and struggle to keep our home, eat fresh and healthy food, and pay our utility and water bills every month. I am a slave to a government which ignores me, my wife, and nearly 80 million other citizens. We are not ‘free,’ we are survivors of the corrupt leadership in Washington. We are expected to show our appreciation for a 2.5 percent annual raise when Greedflation has increased by as much as 60 percent on necessities. If “the People’s President,” Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had not displayed his deep concern for all of our nation’s people and created the plan I and my wife paid into for more than 40 years each, Social Security, my wife an...

Bernie Sanders is technically an Independent, and more importantly a true patriot. He has the courage to tell the absolute truth, something few members of his party share.  One of the greatest Senators in American history, Elizabeth Warren is standing tall among the majority of cowards and hypocrites in Washington. Senator Warren knows more about the need to protect consumers from greedy corporations than anyone in our nation. Ms. Warren recently appeared on CNBC. She was interviewed by Trump devotee, Joe Kernen. The subject was the fact that tariffs are more than a big mistake, they offer corporations an opportunity to take actions of pure greed against consumers. Her first example was from 2018 when Trump placed a tariff on washing machines. Of course manufacturers raised prices on washing machines but why was it necessary to raise prices on dryers? Pure greed. Kernen used the all too common right-wing tactic of redirecting the discussion to make himself and Trump appear more fav...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart When Congress allowed big businesses to incorporate in 1906, they literally offered both tax dodges, and the right to conduct business with few restrictions. The 14 th Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, gave corporations “personhood,” with the same “rights” as regular citizens. One of those decisions involved “citizens united,” when the rules regarding campaign contributions by corporations changed, and the super-rich were allowed to “buy” elections. I have learned over my 78 years that all corporations are evil: all of their CEO’s etc., are greedy and make outrageous profits while causing great harm to consumers. “Greedflation” is the practice of unnecessarily raising the costs of commodities for the sole purpose of increasing profits. The corporations who provide our food continue to overprice every item at your grocery store, and the only reason is pure greed. THE WORST OF THE WORST It is true that all corporations are disrespected, and should b...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart “America is a business, not a country.” This was a line spoken by Brad Pitt in a movie more than a decade ago. Sadly, it is based on fact. In 2024 our nation’s greedy corporations have left capitalism behind, and have created a Plutocracy. Our country’s 760+ billionaires have complete control of the former Grand Old Party, and partial control over some Democrats. They make every decision which will affect your life and the lives of those you love. At the top of the “worst of the worst” is America’s petroleum industry. They have lied to the American people throughout my 77 years. Whenever they find the smallest excuse, they raise prices unnecessarily. Although they have few restrictions about where they are allowed to drill for oil and gas, no new refineries have been built in more than three decades. THE TRANSPORT AND DRILLING FOR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ARE  DANGEROUS TO HUMAN LIFE AND THE ENVIRONMENT Drilling for petroleum products is a dangerous profession. Ev...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   The quality of life for most Americans is in decline. One small and exclusive group is responsible for this situation: America’s corporations. Something you will never hear from the mainstream media: most working-class men and women dislike if not hate the super-rich. They don’t care about us and live their pitiful lives spending huge amounts of money on things they don’t need, while most of us fear the possibility of a single disaster destroying our futures. The media claims that inflation is becoming less of a problem in our country. To put it simply and accurately, “they are full of s**t.” Greedflation continues. My grocery bills remain 30-40 percent higher than they were two years ago. Gas prices in my state continue to hover around four dollars per gallon. My utility bill rose 60 percent, and they will never be reduced. If you are like me, you rely on a fixed income. Although my cost of living has risen about 40 percent on average, my social security ...

  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 Ameri...

  Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   Trump has always believed that he is above the law. His life of crime is fraught with tales of financial crime and sexual misconduct. During the 2016 campaign he claimed that he “could shoot someone in Times Square and nothing would happen.” In 2018 and 2021, Moscow Mitch McConnell offered Trump proof that he was indeed above the law when he refused to conduct a fair trial after he was impeached twice by the House. In past articles I have proven that America’s entire justice system is broken from the cops on the street to the current biased Supreme Court. The rich and powerful are never treated fairly by law enforcement, or the courts. I only need to offer one situation to prove my allegation involving Donald John Trump. On January 6, 2021, he committed treason and yet he remains a free man. Later it was confirmed that he was hiding classified documents, including those related to nuclear power, in violation of the Espionage Act, the same act ...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   From FBI Director Christopher Wray: “Domestic terrorism is the greatest threat to the American people.” Everyone remembers the name Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995 where 168 innocents were murdered, 19 of them small children. The media reported stories about Ted Kaczynski, dubbed “The Unabomber,” for 17 years, beginning in 1978. However, domestic terrorism is much more common in our country than reported by the media. Large events receive the headlines, but mass shootings continue to happen more frequently than the number of days on the calendar. After the cowardly attacks on 9/11, Republican politicians misdirected the facts related to domestic terrorism and focused their attacks on all Muslims, insinuating that they were all enemies of the United States. The truth is that the greatest danger lies within our own people, and it is related to uncontrolled gun violence and the greed of those involved in their manufacture and s...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart     If you are like me and my wife, you are a member of one-half of our country’s population and fear many things which could place us heavily in debt and even homeless. At ages 77 and 73, we could face a medical emergency at any moment, not one of which we have sufficient income to pay for the exorbitant cost of caring for such a devastating situation .    Fact: medical care in the United States is the most costly and least effective in the free world. Only the wealthy can afford the best doctors and the best hospitals. The average cost of a single night’s stay in a hospital is ludicrous.   “ Recent statistics show the price of a one-night hospital stay is around: $13,600 with Medicare; $9,800 with Medicaid; $10,900 with private insurance; and $9,300 without insurance .”   Millions of Americans remain without any healthcare. My wife and I have Medicare part "A,” but are unable to afford Medicare part “B.” No other nation in the ...