There is a fight brewing to save the last glimmer of the American dream.
No, we’re not talking about the dream of owning a home, a feat that is less common in the U.S. today than any time since 1967. Nor are we talking about the idea of sending your children to college so they can have a better life, a reality threatened by the fast rise in student loan defaults. And of course we’re not talking about the ability to retire because, well, let’s be honest: that dream is shot to hell.
The fight is to preserve what could more accurately be called the insurance policy for the American dream: winning the lottery.
When all else fails, as it too often does, you have the option to spend money you do not really have on lottery tickets you should not really buy in the hopes that it just might (but probably won’t) pay for the dream you hoped hard work and a smooth functioning economy would provide. (Even though the lotto often ends up funding a nightmare of robberies, divorce and general burnout from the sudden wealth.)
In recent weeks, however, it has come to light that one state is reneging on this all-important obligation. The Illinois Lottery has stopped paying out prizes of $25,000 or more to winners as lawmakers have yet to pass a budget for the state which is about $5 billion in the red.
Dispatches From The Front 