THE AMERICAN DREAM...............The swindle of lotteries (link)
- Thread starter Michael.Felli
- Start date
The American Dream has nothing to do with the Lottery. It is about hard work and intelligent work combined with savings paying off long term.
LdN
Alcohol consumption leads to liver disease and worse. We all know that, too. Yet, people drink and sometimes, excessively.
The difference is the State doesn't masquerade alcohol lime they do lotteries.
I am vehemently opposed to gambling. Most people can barely add and subtract much less understand probability. And, pretending this is an answer to fund education is just another slap in the face to Americans.
I don't like when they say "it's a tax on poor people." When the government tries to tax somebody the response is yelling and resistance. But poor people line up to give money to the government when they play Powerball. It's a manipulation of poor people, but it's not taxing them.
I find it interesting how the Powerball winner holds a news conference (which seems like a pretty dumb thing to do) and say "The first thing I did was quit my job." Jobs vary but in a lot of jobs other people are depending on you to be there and if you decide you don't want to work there anymore the decent thing to do is to give notice so they can start looking for someone to replace you.
So in other words, someone gets a huge sum of money which they didn't earn, just by luck, and the first thing they do is screw over other people by quitting their jobs and leaving others in a bind as a result. Nice.
Another thing is, it's usually a working class or a poor person that wins it and people react with "Aww, how nice, they didn't have much money but now they're rich." Nobody seems to stop and think that all the money they now have came from OTHER people that were working class or poor and who now have even less than they had before.
I find it interesting how the Powerball winner holds a news conference (which seems like a pretty dumb thing to do) and say "The first thing I did was quit my job." Jobs vary but in a lot of jobs other people are depending on you to be there and if you decide you don't want to work there anymore the decent thing to do is to give notice so they can start looking for someone to replace you.
So in other words, someone gets a huge sum of money which they didn't earn, just by luck, and the first thing they do is screw over other people by quitting their jobs and leaving others in a bind as a result. Nice.
Another thing is, it's usually a working class or a poor person that wins it and people react with "Aww, how nice, they didn't have much money but now they're rich." Nobody seems to stop and think that all the money they now have came from OTHER people that were working class or poor and who now have even less than they had before.
So you are in favor of saving stupid people from themselves. Probably because you think you know better and can make decisions for them. That's pretty left wing.
No. I believe in honest dissemination of information. I believe in education.
Just like educating people what's in their food; educating people where their 401k fees are and how much; etc
I don't believe in pulling the wool over peoples eyes. Does that make me left wing?
I always laugh when people say tax the rich and give the poor a tax cut, right before they enact tons of little things (gasoline taxes for global warming, etc) that really add up for the poor while the rich just take advantage of all the tax loop holes.
Weird. These people who can barely add can somehow post on facebook and instagram all day long.
It's amazing how people can figure out how to do things they like to do... but not the things others would pay them to do.
LdN
The rich people can afford the little things here and there. A $75 speed-camera ticket? No problem for me, other than my wife gets on my ass. For some people they're not going to eat for a few days. They don't pay on time and the fine escalates. You catch my drift.
My wife's parents live outside Springfield, Illinois and there's a mall there that has a Bank of America ATM. There are no Banks of America within 50 miles of Springfield, so whoever lives there and uses the ATM is gonna pay a fee. For me such a fee is nothing (I have a BOA account anyway), but for people making minimum wage who have three kids, that kind of thing is gonna add up. Credit cards? I pay them off monthly; I use them more or less as cash. For others, it can be really rough.
I'm not trying to start a debate here, just pointing out facts, just as Joe is. It's the way of the world we live in. Money talks loudly.
You got me. I've had a shitload of luck in my lifetime; it's as if I threw a pack of cards up in the air and it comes down as Fallingwater.
Exactly!
The unfortunate thing, though, is many people in your income bracket don't understand how what you said DRAGS on the economy. People in higher income brackets WANT people to spend money (in stores, restaurants, cars, medication etc). I do, too. Yet, the plethora of poor people have less and less to spend yearly.
Take, for example, what student loan debt does. A couple can't buy a home b/c their debt to income is too high; their missed payments decreases their FICO which makes them payer higher interest for a car or CC. Hence, decreasing money into the economy (i.e., decreasing their spending power). And, that's just ONE example. It goes on and on.
Kudos to you for understanding that.
Nope. I'm in favor of saving stupid people from Governments (Fed or State) that endorse a 'rigged', non-essential system in order to fill government coffers at the expense of the very citizens that they are charged to protect. Complete, utter, BS.
I'm not sure what your and the op's issue is with ATM fees. ATM's cost money. There are also security concerns.
Should banks simply offer money to people who don't bank with them for free?
Why would someone pay $2 for a bottle of water yet think the ability to take $200 from an ATM 100 miles away from your bank should cost the same?
In terms of overdraft fees, they drive me nuts. However, the banks have gotten a lot better. Now they pay you the fee back if you deposit cash/money into the account same day. It was a much bigger problem (IMO) when they would deliberately pay checks before taking deposits in the morning simply to get overdraft fees.
LdN
Gee I could be mistaken, but doesn't Powerball list the odds of winning each individual prize on the ticket itself and/or the entry you fill out to purchase tickets? Isn't there also tons of information on the internet about the odds of winning? How is that "pulling the wool over peoples eyes" unless, of course, you are talking about people who can't read and think for themselves.
Cigarette packs have WARNING labels and people STILL smoke. As an EDUCATED person, cigarettes should be banned worldwide.
Many people have addictive personalities, as one example. They can't say no. There's a balance between corporate responsibility and personal responsibility.
If what you say is true, why not just make everything legal and place warning signs on whore houses, cocaine sales and gambling joints? Leave EVERYTHING to the individual.
Guess that's why people didn't understand mortgage derivatives when they signed their mortgage papers or their "hidden" 401k fees.
Your world would be an elitist society that feeds off of people's weaknesses. Great society you envision, pal.
I'm fine with education and notices, but at some point in time you have to take responsibility for your own actions. The government can't, and shouldn't, protect us from everything.
Consider the implications. We all know fast food is bad for you. People get addicted to food and become obese. So why would we allow them to remain in business? They should be outlawed along with sugary drinks.
What about vehicular crashes? Reducing the maximum speed limit to 45mph would save thousands of lives. Why don't we do it?
As they say on ESPN C'mon man. Let's get real here. There is a balance in everything dude, but I am sorry, if you can't understand that you have a better chance of being struck by an asteroid are better than winning the Powerball, then no amount of warnings or "corporate responsibility" is going to help. Like my old man always told me you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Actually, I prefer to live in my world where there is SOME personal accountability and responsibility than the one you apparently prefer where presumably you (and select others presumably) get to make up the rules for everybody else (e.g. your statement that "As an EDUCATED (really?) person cigarettes should be banned worldwide".
"Cigs should be banned worldwide," he wrote, with a picture of Hitchens smoking a cig as his avatar.
I'm not a fan of cigs or the lottery but banning cigs is nuts.
Governments being financially dependent upon the vices of its citizens is a moral hazard and should be ended. I don't care if we're talking gambling, tobacco, alcohol or drugs. Sin taxes of any kind are a mistake.
Why should cigarettes be banned? If an individual is willing to accept the potential consequences of his actions (a rarity in today's society since personal responsibility has become an alien concept) why shouldn't he be allowed to smoke?
