$400 million lottery and "the 99 per cent"

[Old Tool]

Originally Posted by RandyKnight

weath can be measured many ways.....

I think Richard Branson is not unhappy with his wealth.

I don't know the man personally, but it seems to me he'd demonstrate that happy-go-lucky attitude working a coal mine . . . eventually he'd probably own the damn thing, but that's not really the point. I also know some dirt-poor folk who are about as unfriendly and cantankerous as can be - think they'd become pleasant with fistfuls of cash flow at their disposal?

[RandyKnight]

Originally Posted by Old Tool

I don't know the man personally, but it seems to me he'd demonstrate that happy-go-lucky attitude working a coal mine . . . eventually he'd probably own the damn thing, but that's not really the point. I also know some dirt-poor folk who are about as unfriendly and cantankerous as can be - think they'd become pleasant with fistfuls of cash flow at their disposal?

He he...I have watched money destroy some people while some that seem to get buy on a little are comfortable with their place in life.

It always seems those with no money think if they have it they will be happy. I have found out that when I had a lot of money some how I had problems money would not solve.

A man is only as wealthy as that which he can do without.

[Old Tool]

Originally Posted by RandyKnight

He he...I have watched money destroy some people while some that seem to get buy on a little are comfortable with their place in life.

It always seems those with no money think if they have it they will be happy. I have found out that when I had a lot of money some how I had problems money would not solve.

A man is only as wealthy as that which he can do without.

Amen, brotha!

[Rockprincess]

I'll take the money!!!

[DS1980]

Money does not make you happy. Well it does, but not as much as poor people may think. You soon begin to be accustomed to it. I would say this, having money does remove a lot of stress from your life. I put a fair bit on the line for my business. Had to live quite poor for a while, which was a small shock considering my upbringing. When I sold it. It gave me free time to do some other things in life. Try out some boldly different career paths stress free.

I would not say having money makes you happy. Having friends, meeting new people, doing new things makes me happy. Although having money aides in those things i guess.

[RandyKnight]

Originally Posted by DS1980

Money does not make you happy. Well it does, but not as much as poor people may think. You soon begin to be accustomed to it. I would say this, having money does remove a lot of stress from your life. I put a fair bit on the line for my business. Had to live quite poor for a while, which was a small shock considering my upbringing. When I sold it. It gave me free time to do some other things in life. Try out some boldly different career paths stress free.

I would not say having money makes you happy. Having friends, meeting new people, doing new things makes me happy. Although having money aides in those things i guess.

Money will not make you happy but it can give you a nice place to be miserable in.

A certain amount of money is necessary but once in the higher limits life really changes in a way most can not handle. I have had some friends make a windfall and 1 or 2 years latter they are busted. Hell I went busted twice before I figured out how to handle money.

[shari69]

Originally Posted by Heyesey

No I don't. Anyone who claims that wealth is maldistributed must, by definition, be opposed to the idea of still further maldistributing it by taking $400 million from untold numbers of people and handing it all to one single person.

Anyone who is in that position but buys tickets hoping to be the one single person, is a hypocrite.

really???
i realise that i will probably never win any big money, but i buy a ticket because without one, i have one less dream
and i am not unhappy with the fact that by putting in a modest amount each week, i am helping to change someone's life, who may need it a lot more than me

[tim929]

Originally Posted by Heyesey

People have been protesting for months now, on varying scales, about the amount of wealth concentrated in the hands of a very few when it should be spread out more evenly.


Does anyone know, or would they care to guess, how many of the protestors bought lottery tickets because they actually want to BE one of the very few who holds enormous amounts of money?

The lottery is nothing more than a tax on people with poor math skills. Your odds of being hit by lightning twice are greater than winning the powerball.

With that out of the way, I have stated many times that there is nothing wrong with being rich. Wealth in itself is not and never has been the problem of the 99%. What is the problem of the 99% is how that wealth is gained. In a world where manipulating markets, outsourcing living wage jobs, compromising safety and/or quality, encouraging faulty financial practices at the corporate and governmental levels and lying all the way to the bank is considered acceptable, it is also reasonable to assume that there will be large numbers of people who will take exception to it. Considering how downright corrupt and greedy the system has become, the rich have absolutely no right to expect anything other than contempt.

And for those who complain that the rich are getting a bum wrap, one need only take a brief look at the recent world wide banking debacle and the monumental corruption that it revealed to understand that the wealthy elite really have no way to justify their wealth and still call it a good thing anymore. That wealth was, in far too many cases the direct result of practices that would have landed most people in jail, except for the protections that were put in place by the lawmakers in a deliberate and unabashed effort to make it possible for themselves as well as a handful of their wealthy compatriots to reap huge rewards at the expense of the rest of us.

[ridgerunner]

lotto is not a fucking tax on the poor or stupid
it is a glimmer of hope for many and it is a voluntary program that is not a required purchase
if you are ignorant to play it you take that chance and it will normally never pay off but for a few it does
but in that logic are casinos a "tax" on the idiots?
are the taxes we pay to pay our representatives a gamble?

[deviousdave]

I occasionally have a go on the Euro lotto. I don't suck at math. I do it for fun, not as a business adventure, it's also a good way of generating lots of money for charity.
So far I have recouped 84% of my ticket expenditure in prize money, this is not sustainable as a source of income, but not as bad as you may expect.
Aside from the lottery, you can make a healthy living out of gambling if you apply the right mathematics, this is why bookmakers are so successful. They measure statistics, they measure what people are betting on and they bet against you. Of course there is risk involved, but there is risk in all walks of life.

Also, I have no issue with large amounts of wealth being concentrated in small groups of people.

[ridgerunner]

dave does anyone force or compel you to play a lottery?
its a larf no more no less hell i play the lotto and i do not need the money for myself, its fun
to dream that impossible dream
fuck your tax on the ignorant and poor, if they were that poor why waste the dollar on a ticket?
even eva braun played the lotto while she was adolfs mistress
its a fantasy and even she knew it was unwinable

[Heyesey]

Originally Posted by ridgerunner

fuck your tax on the ignorant and poor, if they were that poor why waste the dollar on a ticket?

That's exactly my point.

[ridgerunner]

hell i have more money than i can actualy spend in the time i have left but if i won $600million id give most away to those that deserve it
you know the people that actualy work for a living
and more to fact the people that dont ask for it
i dont give a damn about the poor hungry africans there are poor hungry americans
there are poor and hungry people in ireland, england, canada, and every nation under the sun
but tim would rather we give that dollar or 2 to the cororporate world to refuel the megamachine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFQxRd0isAQ

[Heyesey]

Originally Posted by ridgerunner

hell i have more money than i can actualy spend in the time i have left but if i won $600million id give most away to those that deserve it
you know the people that actualy work for a living
and more to fact the people that dont ask for it
i dont give a damn about the poor hungry africans there are poor hungry americans
there are poor and hungry people in ireland, england, canada, and every nation under the sun

Your attitude is consistent. Fine. People might not agree with it, but at least you are not contradicting yourself.

My point was aimed at those who complain that wealth should be more evenly distributed, argue that no one person should be as rich as that while others are poor - but still play. Those are the hypocrites. Anyone who believes in a fairer distribution of wealth, should be calling for the lottery to be scrapped.

[ridgerunner]

i believe that every person pays their share
if i have more i pay more but i pay equaly
if i have less i pay less but i pay equaly
if i give of what i have that is of my will and such should not be rewarded in my taxation
if i fail to give such is my option and should not be persecuted in my taxation
every man has equal chance to fail or fly the end is up to him or her

[deviousdave]

Originally Posted by Heyesey

Your attitude is consistent. Fine. People might not agree with it, but at least you are not contradicting yourself.

My point was aimed at those who complain that wealth should be more evenly distributed, argue that no one person should be as rich as that while others are poor - but still play. Those are the hypocrites. Anyone who believes in a fairer distribution of wealth, should be calling for the lottery to be scrapped.

Thing is, people are often very happy to demand that others share their wealth, just as long as it's not themselves that are forced to give up their belongings.

At the moment the majority of people which prosper in the world are typically people that are intelligent, work hard, educated in western society, or have some sort of talent that is not in abundance. There are obviously exceptions: criminals and drug lords, royalty and leaders of oppressive regimes, and of course lottery winners. However, it is the former that pay the tax.

The idea of a society where people are not rewarded for their usefulness to society, is not an idea I would celebrate.

[ridgerunner]

dave welcome to the world you live in now
people are viewed as to their monitary values and nothing less
that is this world and untill we all stand up and make that change it will last forever

[tim929]

Originally Posted by ridgerunner

lotto is not a fucking tax on the poor or stupid
it is a glimmer of hope for many and it is a voluntary program that is not a required purchase
if you are ignorant to play it you take that chance and it will normally never pay off but for a few it does
but in that logic are casinos a "tax" on the idiots?
are the taxes we pay to pay our representatives a gamble?

Wow...you wouldn't know a joke if somebody walked up to you and bashed you in the head with it, would you? Lighten up and take a chill pill. You are going to burn yourself out with all that rage.

[smcaaphd]

I've never played the lotto with any kind of regularity. When I want to waste money, I draw some out of the bank and use it to wipe my arse. At least that way it won't be used to fund stupid shit like buying letters written by dead people (before they died, of course - if they were used to buy letters written by dead people after they died, I'd buy two fucking lines a week!!)

[Heyesey]

So far as the practical hope of winning goes, you'd be better advised to throw a dollar bill down a sewer drain, in the hope that a big bag full of gold might fall on your head while you're bending down. That's more likely than that your lottery ticket will be a winning one.

[Rixer]

Originally Posted by Heyesey

So far as the practical hope of winning goes, you'd be better advised to throw a dollar bill down a sewer drain, in the hope that a big bag full of gold might fall on your head while you're bending down. That's more likely than that your lottery ticket will be a winning one.

Tell that to the person who wins 600 million dollars.

[Heyesey]

Originally Posted by Rixer

Tell that to the person who wins 600 million dollars.

And this is why people call it a tax on the stupid. It attracts dumbasses like you who think that just because someone somewhere has won a huge amount of money, there must actually be some tangible chance of them winning it..

[ridgerunner]

heyesey define tangible since 1 person did win
in florida a winning ticket won it
so much for that pipe dream

[Rixer]

Originally Posted by Heyesey

And this is why people call it a tax on the stupid. It attracts dumbasses like you who think that just because someone somewhere has won a huge amount of money, there must actually be some tangible chance of them winning it..

There IS a chance you dumb fucking shit. People pony up two dollars for a dream and somebody eventually wins. If you're such a sorry mother fucker you can't afford to lay down a measly two bucks on a dream, I feel sorry for you. Now shut the fuck up and let people manage their own lives. It's none of your fucking business what people do with their own money just because you're a broken dick without any assets..

[deviousdave]

Originally Posted by Heyesey

And this is why people call it a tax on the stupid. It attracts dumbasses like you who think that just because someone somewhere has won a huge amount of money, there must actually be some tangible chance of them winning it..

In the US you are far more likely to win the powerball lottery than you are likely to be killed by a shark. Many people fear sharks and won't go near the ocean.