Two-Dollar Bill

"I got a hot-rod Ford and a two-dollar bill
And I know a spot right over the hill." Hank Williams

I don't have a Ford, hot-rod or otherwise. We have a Dodge Neon. I HAD a two-dollar bill. Been in my wallet for at least a year. One reason I kept it, aside from it being a two-dollar bill, was that it said 1976 on it...the year my dad died. Added another dollar in change to it and sent Melinda down the road to the gas station to get a pack of cigarettes. The last pack we are likely to have for the foreseeable future. This causes me much anger and depression. Not smoking is a good thing for your health. Choosing to stop smoking and then doing it is cool. Being forced to not smoke because you have no ability get any cigarettes is not cool. It is to be imprisoned as a slave.

Before this we had some money. We could have bought bottles and bottles of booze, cases of beer. Melinda had a problem with alcohol and she chose to stop drinking totally. I like an occasional rum and cola but I chose to not drink so that she would not see it and smell it; to make it maybe a little less hard for her to deal with. Choosing is good. Choosing is the act of a free person with options.

Lloyd Blankfein is the current CEO of Goldman Sach Group, Inc. He's a little pissed that he got only $9 million in bonuses. That's understandable, when you remember that he is the guy who made the (in)famous comment about bankers doing "God's work". Also, it is a drastic hit for him since he got $67.9 million for 2007. Can you imagine how horrible it would have been if he got no bonus at all and had to squeak by with only his base salary...of $600K!? Poor guy. The stock is up at Sachs though, going for $154.16 per share on Friday. Source. Some asswipe left a comment on the site telling those of us who don't like this we should "work for it". Perhaps there will be blood. JPMorgan Chase is not doing as well though...their stock on Friday was only $39.41 per share. Geez...they may be on Food Stamps soon. No, wait...they ARE Food Stamps.

I was checking on how you check your food stamp balance online. I googled that and expected to get a link to food stamps or snap dot gov or something like that. The actual link is http://www.ebtaccount.jpmorgan.com/ Don't see anything about government in there any where, do you? ABC News says we have "one in four Americans now enrolled in one of the 15 federal feeding programs. Forty-two million people currently receive monthly benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps. That's up by 10 million from a year ago." "Federal feeding programs"!? What are we, livestock!? Does it make you wonder...how long will owners keep livestock that doesn't do anything but eat? Soylent green, anyone?

Well, my doc said I would not be eligible for a heart transplant as long as I was smoking. Okay, so since I can't smoke and since I got approved for Medicaid in addition to the Medicare, maybe I'll get on a list for a new heart. Maybe if I had one of those I wouldn't be disabled any more...maybe then I... wait. Oh no, no, no, I ain't going to work till I got a guarantee I get at least my base salary of $600K a year.

TRB