I belong to several traffic exchange sites (I willingly admit that I'm trying to sell a book) that require me to spend 20 to 30 seconds on other exchange program websites. I have no problem with, and actually admire, someone trying to sell me something, whether I want it or not. I even find myself sighing with relief when I reach a site selling an actual product, whether a bottle of pills, a newsletter, a gift, or an e-book.

What frustrates, exasperates, and eventually disgusts me, is webmaster out there who is not really selling anything tangible, merely selling reader on selling. How many ads have you encountered that want you to sign-up for "The List," "Marketing Secrets Revealed," or "Make $___ within 48 hours without lifting a finger." How many times have you clicked on a link only to find same theme: how you can make money off everyone else?

If everyone on net is there to make money, from whom are they making their living? Is there really a vast population of unwashed, sitting quietly reading their emails and surfing unending Websites, who exist just to buy stuff from these overzealous marketing gurus? Or does money simply rotate as marketers buy from marketers toward supreme goal of becoming a better marketer?

We live in information age where knowledge is power, details of both history and today's world are only a mouse click away, and ease of access to almost everything approaches speed of interplanetary travel. What productive use have we identified for all of this data?

Future archeologists, digging through our abandoned middens and long forgotten dumpsites, may finally stumble across our great weakness: that making money is be-all and end-all of life.

Shaking their heads in regret, they will publish their findings, reporting on a great civilization that eventually collapsed under weight of its own hype.

A successful businessman wins a quarter of a million dollars and it is nice: a bonus, a chance to splurge on new toys, opportunity to retire outstanding debts, or expand their company with a welcome infusion of capital.

A working-class-stiff wins a quarter of a million dollars and it is truly life-changing. A janitor, a gardener, a fast food worker, a guard - with a windfall like that, they can turn their back on roach-infested slum apartment and move to a better neighborhood or buy a small house and a new car. They can quit their hated job, help their families, participate in good life they have only previously experienced as outsiders, looking in.

The problem is that it is non-sustainable. Winning what seems like an enormous amount of money seldom leads to rational investment: education, skill upgrades, saving for future college costs or business opportunities. Moving from nothing to something, in an instant, is not an event likely to produce rational planning. For those whose monetary and emotional needs have never been truly met, immediate gratification is direction of choice. A lifetime of denial demands a certain degree of self-indulgence when means for it become miraculously available.

Is it any wonder that a large percentage of lottery winners file bankruptcy within five years of their win? The moves, changes, life enhancements that substantial wins provide are ephemeral.

In short run, they provide an exciting exit from a black tunnel. In long run, such a win turns negative - because dream has become a reality, even if only for a brief moment, returning to prior levels of existence becomes an even more painful form of imprisonment.

The need to recapture that dream, and perhaps maintain it this time if a mega-million prize can be snatched, keeps gambling industry thriving and promises of dream fulfillment entice us all, most especially poor, into one more venture, one more ticket, one more chance.