The SpokeSman • TueSday, november 29, 2022 A7
REDMOND SPOKESMAN
Write to us: news@redmondspokesman.com
OUR VIEW
Oregon’s
best lottery
jackpot is
booze
I
BY TIM TRAINOR
Redmond Spokesman
’m a sucker for a lottery, but not enough of a
sucker to fall prey to the Powerball. Even when
that nationwide jackpot crept over $2 billion —
more than the annual GDP of Belize or the down
payment for a two bedroom home in Central Oregon
— I held firm. I know a sucker’s bet when I see one.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal com-
piled a list of things more likely to hap-
pen to you than cashing a winning Pow-
erball ticket. Their list included: being
killed by a meteorite, canonized as a
saint by the Catholic Church or giving
birth to conjoined twins. Leave it to a
Las Vegas newspaper to remind us what
Trainor
a bad gamble is.
The article didn’t spell it out exactly,
but the odds of winning the Powerball may be roughly
the same as being born as a conjoined twin, THEN being
canonized a saint AND THEN being killed by a meteor-
ite. Definitely a longshot trifecta that would make for a
great comic book.
Despite the insanely low odds, I understand why folks
play the Powerball. More than half of Americans play the
lottery every year, and one-in-eight play it every week.
I do think it’s possible to get your $2 of pleasure before
the numbers are even chosen by daydreaming the night
away and thinking about what you’ll do with the money.
There’s plenty of joy in thinking about the places you’ll
go and the things you’ll build, the good deeds you’ll do
and the problems that will be solved by a couple billion
in gold bullion.
And don’t believe the rumor that lottery winners often
find their way back to being broke and miserable — that
their lives fall apart under the strain of unimaginable
wealth. Sure, it happens. And when it does, juicy books
are written about the mayhem that ensues. But a number
of recent studies have shown the chances are no higher
for lottery winners than those in any other socio-eco-
nomic strata — and that nearly 90 percent of lottery win-
ners rate themselves “happier” decades after their wind-
fall than they were before.
Still, we must never forget the hiphop credo: “More
money, more problems.” And there’s something there. A
nest egg of that size does bring with it some additional
pressures. Those pressures and possibilities mean lot-
tery players can find something to be thankful for, win
or lose.
But I have found a better option. An Oregon lottery
that costs nothing, has a fair chance of cashing in and
gives you the chance to enjoy something beyond your
means. Every year, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis
Commission holds a lottery for a chance to win limited
release products — often hard-to-find, aged whiskeys
that go for big bucks on the black market.
Often, those sought-after bottles get immediately
scooped up by resellers and price gougers, who buy out
a state liquor store’s inventory and sell them online at big
markups. That prices out winter evening sippers like me,
who doesn’t have a bottomless wallet but enjoys the fla-
vor of something that has been seeping in an oak barrel
since I was a toddler.
Last week, the OLCC held their 2022 chance-to-pur-
chase lottery. The top prize was a 17-year bottle of Old
Fitzgerald, available for its retail price of $199. A quick
google shows bottles of that same stuff selling for more
than $1,500 online. There were a number of other bottles
up for grabs in the lottery, ranging in price from $149
down to $39.
The lottery is free to enter, though you have to be of
legal drinking age and an Oregon resident. If your name
is drawn you win the opportunity, not the obligation, to
purchase the bottle in question. It is then shipped to your
local liquor store and the purchase is made. Each winner
must enjoy the product themselves, not turn around and
resell it on the black market, which would defeat the pur-
pose of the lottery.
It’s not a billion dollars, but I’d be pretty pleased to see my
name pulled out of a hat and given the chance to buy that
Old Fitzgerald. And I’d be sure to enjoy it in moderation —
would hate for the lottery winner’s curse to find me.
█
YOUR VIEWS
Find unity with neighbors
this holiday season
This holiday season, I ask those to show
mercy, true forgiveness, to those who are
hurting and have been treated poorly by
others around them.
Instead of having so much hate against
Grocery monopolies bad for shoppers
BY REBECCA WOLF
A
merican families are
heading into the end-
of-year holidays facing
sticker shock in the grocery
aisles. Prices have jumped
13% over the past year, with
even larger increases for sta-
ples like eggs, chicken and
pork. Although inflation de-
creased slightly in October, it
remains a top concern in pub-
lic opinion polls for a reason:
High prices are hurting peo-
ple, and they need help.
Meanwhile, second- and
fourth-largest grocers in the
country have hatched a plan
that would actually make things
worse for consumers. Kro-
ger and Albertsons — which
together already own chains
like Ralphs, Food 4 Less, Fred
Meyer, Safeway, Acme, Pick ‘N
Save and Vons — announced
plans to merge, potentially cre-
ating an industry behemoth
second only to Walmart.
We know the pattern well:
Big companies keep getting big-
ger, their competitors disappear
and prices keep going up. Re-
cent research from Food & Wa-
ter Watch found that in 2019,
just four companies took in
nearly 70% of all grocery sales
in the country. And while the
power and profit of the grocery
giants has grown, the number
of stores has shrunk by roughly
30% between 1994 and 2019.
This has hit some communi-
ties very hard; according to the
Department of Agriculture,
17% of Americans now live in
low-income areas with reduced
food access.
To hear the grocery goliaths
tell it, bigger is better: They save
money by controlling more of
the market, and those savings
are passed on to you and me.
But evidence shows that when
they have the power to jack up
prices, they do.
In 2011, an Agriculture De-
partment economist found that
prices tend to rise as concen-
tration increases; the following
year, a Federal Trade Commis-
sion paper noted that “those
mergers generating the largest
price increases [for consumers]
take place in the most concen-
trated markets.” As inflation
hammers family budgets, gro-
cery chain CEOs — including
Kroger boss Rodney McMul-
len — occasionally admit that
this is the perfect environment
to raise prices and rake in re-
cord profits. After all, everyone
needs to eat.
A new mega-merger would
negatively impact everything
from food safety and farming
How to submit:
• email is preferred: news@redmondspokesman.com
• or mail to: 361 SW Sixth Street, redmond or 97756
practices to wages for grocery
workers. Farmers face pressures
from both processors and re-
tailers; the highly-consolidated
processing industry sets the
prices for products like meat,
poultry, milk and eggs. In the
end, farmers earn only about 14
cents for every dollar spent at
the grocery store.
Similarly, workers often
struggle to make ends meet.
More Perfect Union reports
that an internal company pre-
sentation acknowledged that at
least one in five Kroger employ-
ees received government assis-
tance — which is sadly typical
across the industry.
Merger mania in this indus-
try is nothing new. Kroger and
Albertsons have been buying
up competition and bullying
consumers for decades.
These deals have been given
the thumbs-up by federal reg-
ulators that no longer use anti-
trust laws to challenge corpo-
rate consolidation. Instead of
focusing on consumer choice
and competition, agencies now
favor “efficiency.” This suits the
profit-margin needs of mega
corporations and Wall Street, at
the expense of the rest of us.
But when it comes to chal-
lenging corporate power, there
may be hope: The Department
of Justice and Federal Trade
Commission have pushed to
block several big mergers this
year, a sign that regulators may
be ready to upend the corpo-
rate-friendly status quo. Sev-
eral lawmakers wrote a letter
to Federal Trade Commission
chair Lina Khan saying that this
deal “could exacerbate existing
antitrust, labor, and price-goug-
ing issues in the grocery sector.”
And Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J.,
and Jon Tester, D-Mont., and
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisc.,
have introduced legislation to
stop these kinds of mega merg-
ers.
A Kroger-Albertsons merger
would only deepen the power
of grocery retailers to control
our food system and profit off
the basic needs of everyday
Americans. Prices are already
too high and choices too few
for consumers; workers are
stuck with stagnant wages; and
the farmers that produce our
food are losing out at every
turn.
By stopping this deal, regu-
lators would send a powerful
message that puts the needs of
everyday people over corporate
profits.
█
Rebecca Wolf is the Food Policy
Analyst at the national advocacy
group Food & Water Watch.
Thankful for fat, tasty turkey
WRITE TO US
Guest columns: your submissions should be between 600 and 800
words and must include the writer’s phone number and address for
verification. We edit submissions for brevity, grammar, taste and legal
reasons. We reject those submitted elsewhere.
cally hurt.
It would be enough to solve the issue
of racism. Many will see no reason to
mistreat others or wrong them at all. We
must choose not be influenced by violence
against anyone.
Guy Smith
Redmond
GUEST COLUMNS
Tim Trainor is editor of the Redmond Spokesman. Reach him at ttrainor@
redmondspokesman.com or call 541-548-3203.
Letters policy: We welcome your letters. Letters should be limited to
one issue, contain no more than 300 words and include the writer’s
phone number and address for verification. We edit letters for brevity,
grammar, taste and legal reasons. We reject poetry, personal attacks,
form letters, letters submitted elsewhere and those appropriate for
other sections of the Spokesman.
them, you hold the key to greater peace
between all. Think of the consequence of
division instead of unity.
We should work to not have a misun-
derstanding against those not having the
same race or color of skin. As they were
the bad ones. We should work to put at
ease the fear many have of being physi-
T
hanksgiving is always one of my
favorite days, but I couldn’t tell you
why … exactly. Oh, it’s time to get
the clan together around the table and
compliment Grandma on how yummy
the world’s dumbest bird is this year, like
always.
The complete stupidity of the turkey is
legendary. Of course, they have been do-
mesticated since Miles Standish was in
Pampers, and domestication gave them
large breasts but didn’t help the thinking
process much. You know, like some ac-
tresses we could name.
And of course, there is the family enter-
tainment. We get to check out the elderly
uncle to see if he’ll tell the same stories
as last year and if he can keep cranberry
sauce off his white shirt. It’s always fun to
tease old folks, of course, because since I
happen to BE the old folks these days, it
sometimes hits close to home.
Some Native American tribes referred
to November as the “hunger moon.” Sure
has seemed to be that way for a lot of the
people I know. Folks who don’t have a
nine-to-five like smart people have. Out-
door-type folks just have to tolerate No-
vember until Thanksgiving, because then
it’s okay to consider the remainder of No-
vember to be “almost December.”
Did you know that domesticated tur-
keys can’t reproduce without help? Yep.
The tom turkey is now so heavy if he tried
the traditional method on a hen he’d break
her legs. Turkeys have to be bred artifi-
cially.
But fat or stupid or not, the turkey de-
serves our respect for one thing at least.
There have been some changes over the
past 250 years. There are today more tur-
keys in America than there are Pilgrims.
█
Slim Randles is a nationally syndicated columnist.