1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Wall Street guys win Powerball lottery

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by MisterCreosote, Nov 29, 2011.

  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Does Vegas disproportionately affect the poor?

    Look, the lottery is a regressive tax. That's what it is. Do we ban it? I don't know. I'm not making any policy conclusions. I'm stating an economic fact. That's our starting point.
     
  2. Beaker

    Beaker Active Member

    Heard somewhere that they were donating most to charity, good on them at least for that.
     
  3. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    I don't really give a good goddamn what they would tell me. I'm right. They're wrong.
     
  4. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Be sure to follow up with where they donate the "most" of it.

    Might be some confusion here -- they created a trust for tax purposes, which is why revealing themselves as the winners took awhile. Although there are such things as charitable trusts, this is not one of them.

    They'll make some token donation that will get their name on a gymnasium or something so they can live forever knowing what do-gooders they are.
     
  5. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    At the risk of ruining this thread: Dick, you need to cool down. You're beginning to take very argument against you waaaaaaay too personally.
     
  6. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Uh, no I'm not.
     
  7. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Right or wrong aside, you're definitely pompous.
     
  8. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    Dick is right. Those who disagree are wrong. Dick sets the parameters of the conversation. He sets the starting point. In life as in baseball, it is only about the numbers.

    The sooner y'all accept and embrace all of the above, the sooner you will find peace.
     
  9. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Sorry, I'm not allowed to respond any more.
     
  10. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I agree with the above points. State and inter-state lotteries have been marketing to people, and the people have been responding to - the message that this might be their best shot at getting rich or living a more comfortable life.
    But lets not act like wealth equals smarts. Remember that millionaire in West Virginia who won and was robbed of a briefcase full of cash outside a strip club? Leaf through a NYT Magazine and see what crap is being marketed to the uber-rich - things that seem more to function as letting other people know you are loaded than having any useful purpose.
     
  11. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Oh, God.

    This is so dumb.

    Gourmet meals, yachts, etc. are spent mostly by people with disposable income. They create jobs in the restaurant industry, and in the "Yacht industry".

    The lottery and cigarettes suck money largely from the people who can least afford it.

    The lottery especially creates no real jobs. There's no product. It's just a way for the government to raise money, without raising taxes.

    And, the government can talk about how bad cigarettes are, but their partners in the industry. They rely on the money, and likely make more money per pack sold than the manufacturer, while making no investment.
     
  12. Beaker

    Beaker Active Member

    Sorry, I had just heard that via word-of-mouth...
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page