How often do you discover that something you believed was true is simply not the case? Take cork, for instance. For years, I harbored the belief that the world was running out of cork; I’m not alone. Having read various materials contending this was the case, it was easy to believe as more bottles of wine appeared on the shelves without corks — twist-offs, if you will, making it easier to drink wine faster — not something typically recommended.
Although there was a supposed cork scarcity, I harbored an aversion to buying twist-off bottles — in my mind, the wine (usually cheaper) was inferior in quality. It was a relief when I did some research, and I learned there is no cork shortage — there never was. The lesson garnered is buy whatever bottle moves your palette because you are not saving the planet by buying cork-less wine.
Multiple sources report there is enough cork on the planet to bottle the world’s needs for the next 100 years. I always wondered ‘what is cork?’ It’s bark grown on cork oak trees. The trees take several decades to mature, but once the cork is harvested, another cork crop grows every decade, and the trees live up to 300 years. Most cork is grown in Portugal, although it does come from other European countries. See: The Cork Shortage Myth and the Natural Cork Council.
Research indicates that the cork’s scarcity myth originated from companies promoting the claim to justify their cheaper bottling method. Portugal did once declare cork trees endangered, but that came about to protect the trees from commercial destruction. Where cork’s use for bottling has decreased, its added abundance and lightweight versatility have resulted in the manufacture of other cork products such as purses.
Now that this cork myth has been popped out of the bottle (if you believe my impeccable sources), let’s switch to talking politics and why Americans are exhausted with our political system. For years, we have watched a tennis match volley between the two major parties. Every four years, we are told the future of our great nation is at stake, and every two years in between, the party typically in power is punished for all the broken promises, lies might be a more appropriate word choice, that are never delivered.
Through all of this never-ending volley of dysfunction, average Americans, as in the majority of us, have watched our institutions and standard of living crumble and tumble downward. Ask yourself if you are better off than you were two years ago, and for that matter, four years ago, and six years ago, and… you get the point. We are faced with an endless supply of puffed promises that rarely materialize.
There is one exception — when it comes to making America great again, we are doing a smashing job of taking care of the super-rich (Idaho’s federal politicians are pros on that score). Catering to wealthy donors has been the case since Ronald Reagan was elected to the presidency. His government lowered tax rates substantially for the wealthy class, and neither party has significantly changed that dynamic since 1980, although Trump has worked to have America’s elite pay even less taxes than did President Reagan.
Buying a starter home in America has long been the cornerstone of building future assets, but it has become exceedingly difficult. We have an affordable housing crisis in this country. Without inheriting old money or borrowing piles from inflation-strapped parents, young people are finding that buying a first house has become a pipe dream; we are talking about average, middle-class Americans.
A bipartisan effort was undertaken to enact legislation that will help everyday Americans obtain affordable housing. The bill, called The 21st Century Road to Housing Act, passed Congress with strong majorities, yet Trump is refusing to sign the bill in order to extort the passage of a bill regarding voting requirements that has floundered due to a lack of support in both parties.
J.D. Vance was recently pontificating on Fox News that the Democrats are refusing to work with Republicans to improve things in America. However, it is the Republican Party that currently controls all branches of government, arguably including the Supreme Court. What party’s president is refusing to sign a major piece of legislation designed to help average Americans?
One prays this opportunist (J.D. Vance) doesn’t become the next president of the United States. He sold his soul riding on Trump’s back. What America needs is a statesman for its next president, and it’s not Vance. Do America a favor, J.D. — put a sock in it, better yet, a cork.
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