As a software developer, I completely agree.
Imagine if someone patented basic software sort and comparison algorithms!
Dig deeper and you find the answer and it is simple straight forward corruption and greed. The US Patent Office is self funded with the revenue they bring in issuing bogus software patents. The more bogus software patents they approve, the more money they make. It's obscene and to the determent of actual inovation. You want a software patent? How much do you have to give us?
100% agree. And in fact it has turned the entire system on its head. A patent is supposed to protect inventors from being ripped off by copycats. In fact, patents are now just a form of currency for corporations to sabre-rattle at one another, leaving inventors out.
When I used to file patents it was a long and hard process because you had to prove to the USPTO that it was an original invention that was non-obvious and had been actually created (didn't just exist on paper). These days they hand out patents to anything, since the more they grant, the more money they get. I swear I could patent "A Method of Converting Raw Meat to Cooked Meat by the Application of Heat" and have no end of fun throwing lawsuits at steak and burger restaurants.