PW: Good point. We need to find a way to connect those folks that aren’t reading this stuff with the stuff they should be reading. The great divide must be breached by knowledge.

Kitty: Good point about gambling being an escape from reality. I have read similar stories of impoverished gamblers thinking that hitting the big prize is their only way out of poverty.

Kelsi: Thanks for the encouragement. I will continue as long as my appointments bring me interesting stories to share.

Piggy: I know what you are saying. It is very hard sometimes to keep quiet when I hear some of these stories first hand.

Kate: Thanks for you comment. I wish we could find a way to incentivize people who don’t pay taxes to move themselves into the taxpayer category. Taking away the vote is extreme but giving taxpayers a little extra say might help.

“What is it with folks who are living barely above the poverty line, supporting three other family members on disability, hanging out at a casino? ”
I can venture a guess here. In this particular case it could be a way to escape her problems. She is disabled, her son isn’t self-sufficient, maybe she is just feeling depressed. I don’t know those who play lottery, but in this particular case this could be the reason.

A childhood friend of my mother’s lost all of her life savings and run up credit card debt – all playing slot machines, she lives very modestly. She is of the retirement age, but has to keep working now. Apparently she started to gamble in her 60s because as she explains it “my life was too hard”. But now she can’t (or doesn’t want to) stop. Unlike this woman she isn’t disabled and she lives alone: she has a daughter but they’ve not been getting along for a while. I wonder if this woman’s situation is similar.