The Lottery Winner

by Pete Thorsen

  “And while the bank account is flat all the equipment I own is getting more used up and gradually wearing out more every day. And the price of a new skid steer or a backhoe tractor is a lot of money. Equipment prices have gone up a lot, enough, so I just don’t have the money. I think if something big breaks down I'll just have to rent the equipment now instead of buying new like I always used to do."

  We stopped, and after the boss bought what we came for and I helped with the loading and tying down the load, I ran in and bought a new framing hammer I needed to replace my old one. On the ride back to the job site I was looking at the receipt for the hammer.

  "The sales tax seems way higher than it should be on this receipt?"

  "Yeah. The city and the county both recently raised their sales tax rates. There was also a one and one-half percent voter-approved city tax hike that just went into effect here too. And the state is going to raise its sale tax rate again too. The state sales tax increase goes into effect the first of next month. Also, next month is when the gas tax is going up by twenty cents a gallon."

  "Sounds like they are going to tax everyone to death."

  "You own your place don't you?"

  "Yeah, I do."

  "County property taxes are set to increase between twenty and thirty percent on this year's statement that should come out soon."

  "How can they get away with all these new taxes for everyone?"

  "Some of them are actually voter-approved taxes. Most of the others are just arbitrary increases by the local government. All these new taxes and the new business license fees are part of what is killing my profit. That is one of the reasons, so many businesses are closing now. The taxes, fees, and regulations make it just about impossible to stay afloat if you run a business. I feel it will only get worse too."

  "With so many businesses closing, doesn't that mean more people are out of work?"

  "Oh yes. Many are out of work. And with more businesses closing, the city, county, and state tax revenues are all dropping too. Of course, their only remedy to this is to raise taxes, even more, to make up for their tax income shortfall. It will only lead to even more unemployment and more business closings."

  "Can't they see that?"

  "I don't know. Both the cities and the counties sure act like they don't. They never make any cutbacks. If they need more money, they just raise taxes more or come up with new or higher fees which are the same as taxes anyway."

  "Why would voters ever go along and vote for new taxes? It makes no sense to me when I hear people complaining about money troubles all the time, and yet they vote to have less money?"

  "When the government, whether it is city, county, state, or whatever wants to get a special tax increase for a specific thing they play it up like the new tax will save people money in the long run. The local media, like the radio stations and the local newspaper, usually jump on board right away and push hard for the new tax increase too. So the only thing that most people hear about the tax increase is what the media tells them."

  "Things are going to get worse. There is a point where it just won't pay to go to work or to run a business it seems like to me. Then the government will get no tax money at all."

  "You got that right."

  "Then everything will just stop."

  "I try not to think about that happening. Things will likely get pretty ugly if, or really I should say when that happens."

  Then we were back to the worksite and I more or less just forgot about our discussion for awhile. Then a couple of days later at work, I was listening to some of the other workers talking.

  "I don't know how we are going to make it pretty soon. My wife wants to quit her job."

  "I thought she liked her job! It is at some animal shelter isn't it?"

  "Yeah. My wife used to really like it but now she hates going to work. Hardly anyone ever adopts a pet anymore, and they get several dropped off there just about every day. Even at night people drop off dogs and just tie them to the front door. They get so overcrowded the only thing they can do is euthanize them. She hates that part, and they are doing it more and more all the time. Their funding is down, so they had to shorten the time they keep pets before euthanizing them too."

  "I heard the county wants to drop the animal control division to save money for the county."

  "Yeah, my wife talked about that too. The county just stopped and do not bring any captured dogs or cats to the shelter anymore. Now they just shoot them 'in the field.' It sounds like the county will now just move all those animal control officers to regular patrol instead. All patrol officers now shoot any stray dog or cat on sight if they can do so safely without endangering anyone. So basically in town, all the loose animals get a free pass, and in the country, they just get shot on sight."

  "I see how all that killing could bother your wife when the whole idea of the place is to keep them alive."

  "It will bother her more if we can't afford to feed the kids and us."

  "Food sure is going up isn't it?"

  "It sure is. It didn't help any when they included food now in the sales taxes. Wish I had enough money to stock up on some. The way food prices are going up so fast you could store some food for awhile and sell it later for a big profit I bet. Or store it so you could at least have something to eat later on when you are no longer able to afford to buy any food."

  I stopped to think about that for awhile. I guess now that I was thinking about it, my grocery store runs were costing me quite a bit more money than they used to. It must have been a gradual increase and I just never realized it was happening. I had never even realized that there was now sales tax on food too. Maybe I would stock up some on food. I had the money, and I would eat the food anyway. Better to have the food on hand rather than wish you did. Seems like a 'no brainer' as they say nowadays.

  I noticed more and more complaining about money troubles at work all the time now, even worse than it used to be. And when I drove through town going to or from work I would always see more and more beggars or at least I was noticing them more. Holding up signs with several different messages. But amounting to just saying 'I need money.'

  On Saturday morning I drove into town to do some extra grocery shopping and to go to the library. I drove to the library first and got there just as it was opening. There was a line outside just being allowed in. Seeing all the people in line, I assumed the one time I went to the library it had to be on a day when there was some special event going on there.

  But there was no special event. Almost all the people waiting outside wanted to use the free computers which were quickly filling up with people typing and clicking on them. Others were just sitting and waiting their turn on those computers.

  I had no interest in the computers, and instead, I just wanted to read the newspapers and maybe look through a few magazines to brush up on the news. I read all the newspapers they had there, even the older copies that I found. I also paged through several of the magazines and read a story or two that happened to catch my eye. When I noticed one of the library workers free I went over to ask them a couple of questions.

  "Why are so many people here just for the computers? I thought computers were pretty cheap nowadays."

  "I suppose many of these people might have their own computers, but it costs quite a bit to have internet service for one. Every provider is over a hundred dollars per month."

  "What do they do on the computers?"

  "All kinds of things. But mostly money related. They use them to apply for unemployment, look for and apply for jobs, list items they have for sale, sometimes search for an item for sale cheap that they need."

  "I am dumb with computers, and I did not know any of that."

  "Some use the computers to search for news. Many people no longer trust the TV news or the newspapers to report the truth."

  "Surely news is news and is the same no matter where you see it."

  "That is not quite true. At least not all the time. News outlets can a
nd likely do sway public opinion all the time and likely always have done so. They ignore some news, so the population never hears about it. Or they report news items using very carefully scripted words to imply something that might not be true or to sway the viewer or reader into thinking what the news organization want them to think.

  “The same thing happens on the internet news sites, but at least there you can look through many different versions of the same news item and eventually draw your own conclusions."

  "You know my boss said something about this awhile back. We were talking about voter-approved tax increases, and he said the local radio stations and newspapers often helped get these new taxes passed by how they reported on them."

  "Yes, I personally think he is right about that. One possibility is maybe those news outlets got some pressure put on them to make sure the voters would vote the new taxes in."

  "I never thought about that."

  "I'm not saying it's true but just that the possibility exists. That is the trouble now; you just do not know what is true."

  "It sure is a complicated world we live in isn't it?"

  "It sure is. It’s sad about the news. So much stuff is happening, and things are so cloudy now. I have gotten to the point that I trust nothing I see or hear on any of the news outlets. Sometimes I even wonder about things I see and hear first hand with my own eyes and ears. You are certainly correct about this being a very complicated world we live in."

  "I have a lot of things to keep my mind busy. I fear I am way behind the eight ball because I have never kept track of what is happening around me. Thank for your assistance and time."

  "You're welcome."

  Chapter 4

  Leaving the library, I went to the grocery store where I usually shopped. For a Saturday I did not think it was very crowded. I grabbed a cart and started to slowly shop for groceries and such.

  When I came to items that I normally bought to eat I put many in the cart. Things like baked beans that I often eat could be kept for a long time and wouldn't spoil, so I added many cans. I bought most of a cart full of canned goods. I also threw in dry goods like pasta and rice and things like that.

  I didn't know just how long they would keep, but I figured I could put them in some of those re-sealable plastic containers. It would keep the bugs from getting to them and make them last much longer too I figured. Long enough so I could eat them up.

  By the time I got up to the checkout, the cart was maybe over full and very heavy with all the canned goods in there. The checkout girls seemed quite surprised when I pushed up the full cart. A bagger with nothing to do came over and pulled an empty cart with him. He bagged as the girl rang things up with him filling the empty cart he brought with him until it was full.

  He did not fit everything in the cart as well as I did and he ended up using my original cart and the one he brought over both. He never even asked if I needed help with it and just followed me outside pushing one of the two carts out to my old pickup.

  When we got out to my truck, he said something strange.

  "I see you are into the prepper thing. Good idea. My folks do the same."

  I had no idea what he was talking about and just went about the business of unloading the two carts into the truck.

  As long as I was done in town, I just put everything back in the truck box. It was all heavy enough so it wouldn't blow out and I always drove slower than most of the traffic anyway. I did stop and fill the truck's gas tank on the way home. Between those two stops, I spent quite a lot of money. I felt good about it, though.

  I went through the next week and thought everything was pretty normal. I listened when I could to chatter between the other guys on my work crew but other than complaining about money problems they provided no more in the news. And they had always complained about the lack of money, so that was no change.

  I admit I was concerned. My boss was a smart guy, and if he was concerned and thought things would get ugly, then I believed him. And I still had money in the bank, but I did not know what if anything I should do with it. On Friday after work when I cashed my check I went to the grocery store and bought more extra food again.

  I had to stop anyway to buy some milk and eggs. Those I couldn't buy a lot of, or they would spoil. I always shopped at Walmart, just because they had everything in the one store and I only had to make one stop that way. And I would guess that their prices were likely as good or better than the other stores.

  Again I spent a bunch of money on more food. But I was happy to get it. As far as I was concerned it was just like having the money in the bank. I would need that food anyway, and I would rather have it at home than wish I did later. Again I stopped for gas. While there I heard several people complaining about the new higher gas prices because of the new gas tax.

  The gas tax was supposed to be twenty cents a gallon, but I noticed that gas had gone up twenty-five cents a gallon. Obviously, the gas stations thought they could take a bigger bite too as long as the state could. It upset me some but I could do nothing about it. So I just filled my tank and left.

  Again I thought there were even more beggars in town than just last week. Maybe I was noticing them more. But I think not. There are just more beggars. This means that more people likely lost their jobs this week. How long could that trend keep going?

  I stepped up bringing home wood products to use for firewood. I admit sometimes I slack off on this, but now I am keeping up on it and bring home all I can. I plan on being warm and not hungry this coming winter whether I have any money then or not.

  The summer went by like it always does. I noticed that more and more businesses were closed in town. Mostly just small places but some big ones too. One of the large grocery stores closed along with the big local Sears store. I seldom go to Durango, but I have heard that many businesses have closed there. It sounds like way more closed there than down here which I suppose makes sense because they have more stores there.

  My wood shed that I built is plumb full of wood to burn this winter. I even have a lot of wood stored outside along the side of the shed. When I had the chance at some free used metal roofing, I extended the shed I had built. It is much larger now. And I am still bringing more firewood home whenever I get the chance. It won't be long, and I will have the enlarged shed section full of wood also. I do save some good building materials in one section of my garage. That better stuff just came in handy when I extended the wood shed.

  I have been going to yard sales when I happen to see them, and I am driving past anyway. I have bought several items from them. The prices are very cheap. It seems that people are trying everything they can to bring in a few bucks to get by for just another week.

  One thing that I thought might be handy was the folding camp oven I bought for three dollars. It was still in the box, and I am going to try it on the top of my wood stove this winter. If it works, I can bake small things in there, and it would cost me nothing just using the heat from the wood stove that would be burning anyway. Besides baking (which I seldom do) I could certainly use it to warm things up instead of using the microwave.

  I did buy one kind of expensive item. I got a used generator at a yard sale. It was a hundred dollars, but the guy started it, and we plugged in a saw, and it worked just fine. I asked one of the guys at work that knows about electric stuff some questions about the generator. I wanted it to run my well pump and hoped the generator would work for that now that I bought it. He had me write down what it said on the generator and what it said on the pump control box.

  When I gave him the information, he did say it would work and told me exactly how to hook it up. He even drew a simple wiring diagram for me. After I got some wire and a special plug I did hook it up and try it on the pump. And it did work just fine like he said it would so I am happy enough with that purchase. Now I will have running water no matter what happens. At least as long as I have fuel for the generator.

  I have bought a used thirty-five-gallon drum at another
yard sale and made a stand for it at home. I then gradually filled it with gas, five gallons at a time using my only gas can. Now I have those thirty-five gallons of fuel for the generator at home. Of course, I could use it in my truck too. To keep the fuel fresh, I plan on draining five gallons every few weeks and using that in my truck then refill the drum with fresh gas. That will rotate the stored fuel and keep it all fresh.

  I do start the generator once a month and let it run for a bit and run a power tool or something with it just to make sure it is always ready to go. Once in a while, I do lose power out here where I live. Usually a few times a year. Often it is only for an hour or two, but one time it was for more than a day. Even though I will seldom use the generator, it makes me feel better knowing that I have it here just in case.

  Chapter 5

  It was in October that the job I was working on was finished. The boss laid off all of us on the work crew. He told us that if things were good in the spring and there were jobs to do he would hire us all back again. He did not sound very optimistic about us getting re-hired. We all went and signed up for unemployment. With construction jobs, it is common to be off in the winter months every year, so it was no big deal.

  The unemployment office was busy when I went to sign up. I mean really busy and everyone there seemed pretty depressed. Even the people working there and that I thought was somewhat odd because they still had jobs unlike the rest of us.

  I learned a few things at the unemployment office. I was not required to look for work because I was marked as a re-hire. I guess that means that I will be rehired in the spring by the same company that just laid me off. Not having to look for work would save me money on fuel which was nice because gas had gone up again.