James Verone, a 59-year-old convenience store clerk, walked into a Gastonia, N.C., bank and handed the cashier a note demanding $1 and medical attention. Then he waited calmly for police to show up.

He’s now in jail and has an appointment with a doctor this week.

Study his face carefully, and then go look in the mirror. This is the face of the “new reality” in America. The American public has been sold out by the powers that be, and we will all pay the price sooner or later. Our tax dollars are going toward financing corporate greed and corrupt politicians and not for our citizens health.

Job promises for ex-politicians are the biggest contributor to the corruption, along with campaign finance which is nothing more than legal bribery. All the while the american people suffer, while the members of congress have stellar health car, at no cost to them.

Obama’s health care act will not go into place until 2014. James Verone needed medical attention and he didn’t want to be a burden on his sister and brothers. So he hatched a plan. On June 9, he woke up, showered, ironed his shirt and mailed a letter to the Gazette, listing the return address as the Gaston County Jail.

“When you receive this a bank robbery will have been committed by me,” Verone wrote in the letter. “This robbery is being committed by me for one dollar. I am of sound mind but not so much sound body.”

Verone’s problems started when he lost the job he’d held for 17 years as a Coca Cola deliveryman, amid the economic downturn. He then took a part-time position at the convenience store. But hiss body wasn’t up to it. The bending and lifting made his back ache. He had problems with his left foot, making him limp. He also suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis.

Then he noticed a protrusion on his chest. “The pain was beyond the tolerance that I could accept,” Verone told the Gaston Gazette. “I kind of hit a brick wall with everything.”

Verone hailed a cab to take him to the RBC Bank. Inside, he handed the teller his $1 robbery demand. “I didn’t have any fears,” said Verone. “I told the teller that I would sit over here and wait for police.”

Because he only asked for $1, Verone was charged with larceny, not bank robbery. But he said that if his punishment isn’t severe enough, he plans to tell the judge that he’ll do it again. His $100,000 bond has been reduced to $2,000, but he says he doesn’t plan to pay it.

In jail, Verone said he’s hoping to receive back and foot surgery, and get the protrusion on his chest treated. Then he plans to spend a few years in jail, before getting out in time to collect Social Security and move to the beach.

Verone also presented the view that if the United States had a health-care system which offered people more government support, he wouldn’t have had to make the choice he did.

“If you don’t have your health you don’t have anything,” Verone said.

The Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s health-care overhaul passed by Congress last year, was designed to make it easier for Americans in situations like Verone’s to get health insurance. But most of its provisions don’t go into effect until 2014.

As it is, Verone said he thinks he chose the best of a bunch of bad options. “I picked jail.”