A Billion and a Half!

...is really  a little over 400 Million! so you lose a Billion from the get go. Deceptive advertising appealing to our basic greed.  They say you should get an investment adviser, as if you need a lot of interest from this money, because, really, is $400,000,000 enough?  The chances of winning are slim, of course, but with my luck, I would have to share it with someone with the same numbers!  Then it becomes 2 hundred million, or, God forbid, split 4 ways to become a paltry Fifty Million!
I don't know about you but I would have to drive 50 miles to collect my check!  That works out to be about $500,000 per mile, talking closer to money I could, in theory at least, understand.
They say that if you win you have to move.  I don't like that idea at all.  Most Americans move every seven years but I have lived here for almost 50 years!  I would miss the house, the shop, the garden. At my age rebuilding it all somewhere else would mean hiring it all done and that is just never the same.  I have agreement with five or so people that if I win I will give them a Million Dollars.  In Cash.  In an old worn out suitcase with straps!  That would be a fun experience!  And, they would do the same for me if they win. I really hope they win!  A Million in a suitcase would be so much more fun than a Billion and a Half and all the headaches that would bring!

I have friends in Florida...

Well, I do NOW!  That is where the winning Powerball Ticket was purchased so almost anyone from Florida could become my friend.  That is what would happen, wouldn't it?  Friends you never knew and relatives you never met would come crawling out of the woodwork.  Really, what would you do if you had won?  I would probably spend it on wine, women and song and squander the rest.  I have a brand new roof on my house and am in the process of painting it so I don't need anything in that department.  My garden this year is the best I've ever done and I have no more room for more flower pots.  I have a 1989 Mercedes in excellent condition, brand new tires even and I really hate cars anyway.  My work truck has some dents but I like it that way.  It can be used and used up but it can't be hurt.  I would keep it.
   The odds of winning of course were astronomical!  Like, choose a number that I am thinking of between 1 and 20, except it was choose five numbers between 1 and 175 MILLION!  But it is a dream, right?  A fantasy and those who spent a couple bucks on it did no harm but I suspect some spent the milk money or even the rent on it and that is the down side to the Lottery.  A voluntary tax on poor people so someone can fulfill their greed.
   The fun part would be in giving it away and that could become a job in itself.  Lots of people have won the lottery to be dead or murdered soon after!   You would need bodyguards and food tasters and it would change your life dramatically and maybe not for the best. What would you do?
   I always hear "Travel" and it makes me laugh.  Travelling anywhere is really within reach of anyone wanting to travel somewhere.  $3,000 will still get you a "round the world flight" and for less than a thousand bucks you can fly anywhere in the USA and get a return ticket.  $300 bucks can get you a long way from home.
People who say they want to travel will happily spend $30,000 on a car that will never get further than 500 miles from their driveway.
    I really don't know what I would do and at least I woke up today not having that problem.

I Almost WON!!!

"I could a been a contender".  I got all of the numbers, all six of them!  ...But dispersed over the fourteen tickets that I bought!  That was my "investment" for the chance at half a Billion or so that was up for grabs.
I think someone from Maryland bought the winning ticket.  My daughter lives in Maryland!  I wonder..hmm!
I wonder whether she would even tell me?
   There is something about money that brings friends out of the woodwork and you discover relatives that you never knew existed.
   Half a Billion isn't what it used to be.  It takes Romney a full two years to earn that much!  Of course I dreamt what it would be like to suddenly be kicked into the top 1% where 640 Million becomes a lousy 430 Million after taxes and I wondered whether I would resent that?  Maybe, I thought No one would win and next week it would morph into a full Billion Dollars!  That's real money!  And then I was dreaming like everyone who bought a ticket...    what would I do?
   I could certainly spend some of it.  My house needs a new roof and that would take some and I would like to pay off my daughter's student loans and get rid of those payments they will have for the next thirty years!  I don't want a new car.  I like my little truck and it has brand new tires on it.  My wife's 1989 Mercedes is in perfect running condition and she just had the oil changed.  I realize that I would have a difficult time spending the interest that would accumulate in just one day.
   I am amused when I read that some people would invest this money!  Like they want more!  When would it be enough?  It would be quite a challenge to give it away.  Some people would complain that they didn't get enough!  I remember the old "Millionaire" television program from the 1960's where every week John Baresfortipton (spelling?) would give away a million bucks to some poor deserving person which would just create a whole slew of other problems.  It is not simple.
    I wonder whether I should have prayed for the winning numbers?  Some people did this and even made deals with God, offering half to the Church instead of the measly 10%.  I am sure there was a priest or two who bought a ticket.  I like to think that God is busy and doesn't get involved with a numbers game. and if He wanted something I am sure He could figure out a way to get it.
    I am glad it is over and now I can get back to my garden and the reality of life.