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« Actions Speak Louder Than Words... | Main | It Was Terror » August 27, 2004If You Don't Play, You Can't LoseThere's something a little sick about using the word "perseverance" in connection with someone obsessively buying lottery tickets until they win. When I teach my kids about perseverance, it will be in reference to having a strong work ethic and an indomitable spirit - not in trying to get rich by repeatedly wasting money trying to win a large chunk of cash that the state lottery accumulated by taking it, a few dollars at a time, from thousands of poor and lower-middle-class people who also are wasting their money on that near-futile approach to getting rich. For every person that wins big money, there are thousands and tens of thousands who never win a dime, but who waste hundreds and thousands of dollars that, if they invested it or used it to start a business, could make them wealthy over time. Posted in Miscellaneous
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Are we having second thoughts about letting people be responsible for their own choices? Also, shouldn't we do something about that tobacco and liquor thing? Posted by: SemiPundit at August 27, 2004 03:07 PMNo, I don't think Bill is having second thoughts about personal responsibility. I think he's just pointing out the folly of playing the lottery. We have a lottery in FL, and I actually play a couple bucks a week, despite knowing my chances of winning are practically nil. Here's the kicker: I can afford to play. A state lottery has been proven to be one of the most regressive taxes out there. Of individuals that choose to play, the people who can least afford to drop cash buying tickets are the people who buy the most tickets. Uneducated, low-wage earners tend to spend MUCH higher percentages of their incomes on lottery tickets hoping to strike it rich someday. Their incomes are usually tax-free (at least federal), but they end up paying a huge tax to the state in the end. I have no opinion one way or the other about lotteries, I'm just saying what happens. True liberals should oppose them due to their regressive natures, but the proceeds usually fund education budgets. Ergo, many Dems support it in many states in which I've lived (like in SC). Ironic, huh? Posted by: Ivan at August 27, 2004 04:42 PMIt's interesting. The voluntary nature of the tax should please conservatives. The regressiveness should displease liberals. Liberals want to regulate what we eat, drink and smoke, but states advertise gambling (thus, in my view, forfeiting any moral authority over harmful behavior they ever claimed.) The idea that chronic gambling should be equated with the virtue of perseverence is, I guess, a comment on our culture. I just like to think of lotteries as a tax on people who can't do math. Posted by: Dave Sheridan at August 29, 2004 05:39 AMPost a comment
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