Letters to the Editor

Letter to Editor- Teaching kids logic again could make people see through the power of money

Dear Editor,

Capitalism has failed completely. As a result of capitalism, we are on the verge of destructive global warming. There are now at least 8.8 billion people on the planet. The Earth’s human population has quadrupled in my lifetime (79 yrs). Ten nations have nuclear weapons. This puts all life on Earth and human civilization at major risk of elimination.

Greed is considered a positive characteristic by many wealthy citizens who want even more (see the movie Wall Street). There are more multibillionaires than ever before. The U.S. has the most ultra-wealthy people of any country. Billionaires are richer and there are more of them than ever. According to NPR and Forbes Global Media there were 140 billionaires in the World in 1987. Today there are 3028 of them.

These super-rich are sick with overwhelming greed and lust for power. They should be in institutions to deal with this psychological sickness of theirs. They shouldn’t be running countries and businesses. They may kill us all if they aren’t stopped.

The ultra-rich finance both sides in any war. War is very profitable for them. Corporations including General Motors and Ford supplied resources to Nazi Germany during WWII. Readers can look this up in the book “Trading With The Enemy” by John Higham. Another source is the documentary “JFK to 911 Everything is a Rich Man’s Trick” at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNYh7OVqXUN_GZ8K8IF5VWdYCkvy7fGYt.

Meanwhile, many people in the U.S. are homeless and cannot afford medical care or higher education. According to the National Literacy Institute, 21 percent of adults in the U.S. were illiterate in 2024. Fifty four percent of adults have literacy below a 6th-grade level. Twenty percent are literate below the 5th-grade level.

Readers can learn even more at https://www.nu.edu/blog/49-adult-literacy-statistics-and-facts/. A 2020 Gallup study found that the U.S. economy could be losing up to $2.2 trillion annually due to low adult literacy rates.

The U.S Government has not supported education enough. One of things not taught in my high school was logic. That should be a required subject to graduate from high school. Logic teaches students to analyze speeches and writing by anyone with a commercial, political or another agenda.

These skills are rare in the United States. That is why someone like Trump was able to use his lies and get himself elected.

Sincerely, Ed Oberweiser

Start your day with Company Juice in Fort Bragg, California

Frank Hartzell

Frank Hartzell has spent his lifetime as a curious anthropologist in a reporter's fedora. His first news job was chasing news on the streets of Houston with high school buddy and photographer James Mason, back in 1986. Then Frank graduated from Humboldt State and went to Great Gridley as a reporter, where he bonded with 1000 people and told about 3000 of their stories. In Marysville at the Appeal Democrat, the sheltered Frank got to see both the chilling depths and amazing heights of humanity. From there, he worked at the Sacramento Bee covering Yuba-Sutter and then owned the Business Journal in Yuba City, which sold 5000 subscriptions to a free newspaper. Frank then got a prestigious Kiplinger Investigative Reporting fellowship and was city editor of the Newark Ohio, Advocate and then came back to California for 4 years as managing editor of the Napa Valley Register before working as a Dominican University professor, then coming to Fort Bragg to be with his aging mom, Betty Lou Hartzell, and working for the Fort Bragg Advocate News. Frank paid the bills during that decade + with a successful book business. He has worked for over 50 publications as a freelance writer, including the Mendocino Voice and Anderson Valley Advertiser, along with construction and engineering publications. He has had the thrill of learning every day while writing. Frank is now living his dream running MendocinoCoast.News with wife, Linda Hartzell, and web developer, Marty McGee, reporting from Fort Bragg, California.

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