A man walks into a bank and slips a note to the teller.
The note reads: “This is a bank robbery. Please only give me one dollar.”
From CNN:
Then the man tells the bank employees, “I’ll be sitting right over there in the chair waiting for the police."
He perches himself on a chair outside the bank he just robbed and waits for the police to arrive.
That suspect, James Verone, who is from Gaston County, North Carolina, told CNN affiliate WCNC that he robbed a bank for $1 for the sole reason of getting in jail so he could get free health care. He was not armed during the robbery.
Verone, 59, told WCNC he doesn’t have health insurance, but has a host of medical problems: A growth on his chest, two ruptured disks and a problem with his left foot. Without a job and money, he reached the conclusion that going to jail would mean free medical care (although it's not free for taxpayers).
I don't even have the words to describe how nervous this kind of story makes me feel. Nervous because we live in a country that, at one time, had a government that helped people and now has one that only helps big business.
Verone told his local paper, The Gaston Gazette that he had worked as a delivery man for Coca-Cola for 17 years. That career ended three years ago, and he couldn’t find steady employment. Then the medical problems began. He lived off his savings and sought a part-time job.
Meanwhile, many of my friends who work in banking are having the best two years of their lives. They are getting huge bonuses and one is even getting a waterfront summer home for a song.
Meanwhile, my healthcare has gone from $1250 per month to $1490. My clients budgets are diminishing because of this continuing downward spiraling economy. Who knows if I won't be this guy in a few years.
What do we do? This is not the United States I woke up to when I was younger.