Step Right Up, Only Two Small Dollars

Two dollars will get you $2.8 billion.

That was the payoff in last night's Mega Millions Jackpot for a two-buck ticket that was purchased at a Speedway gas station northwest of Chicago. Winner yet to be announced. Or found.

Forget that the odds of winning said ticket were 302,575,350-to-one.You have a better chance of being the next Pope, marrying into the British Royal Family or being eaten whole by a great white shark while standing on the beach.

I made up that last sentence.

Still, the odds are prittay, prittay slim.

But we like to dream. Somebody has to win. It could be you or me or that grumpy guy around the corner who shouts at the children when they roller skate past his house.

It's fun to think about. Even though kids don't roller skate around the block any more.

Raymond Loewy's mid-century modern design put Studebaker  ahead of its class: 1953 Commander Starliner Coupe.

I know what I would do if I won more than a billion bucks. First thing, I'd buy a 1953 Studebaker V8 Starliner Coupe to putter around town in. Whooopeee!

Then I'd solve world hunger. Next I'd solve homelessness. I'd divvy out the remaining millions to my children and grandchildren.

Dream on: the almighty buck and what it can buy.

But you know what? Inflation could get in the way. How far does a billion dollars really go in today's economy? Shacks in my town worth a couple thou in 1975 are now going for more than a million dollars. An ice cream cone today costs 6-8 bucks. And that's before the obligatory two-dollar tip.

The money meter is running quicker than your heart rate. Just breathing costs money. 

The politicians and the talking heads harp on about inflation and whose fault it is, but it's inevitable. Inflation is everywhere, worldwide. Today's dollar is tomorrow's ten dollar bill.

The universe is inflating.

At the same time, have you noticed that packaging is shrinking? That jar of peanut butter that was 10 oz yesterday, is 8 oz today, but the price is the same, or more.

It's called "shrinkflation," according to Edward Dworsky, founder of Consumerworld.org. A half-gallon container of ice cream yesterday, is only one-and-a-half quarts today, says Dworsky, yet appears pretty much the same size. So you're paying more for less.

The big corporations are getting their profits while consumers are going broke.

What to do?

Run out to your local store and purchase a Mega Millions Jackpot ticket. It's a long shot to win but will only cost you $2. And you're already losing that much on a jar of peanut butter.