Are u for or against the lottery

[gsmoove23]

Why all these bad feelings towards idiots. I know some idiots, they're good people.

[MRT144]

good people who should know better but dont. i dont feel bad for them. its a stupidity/desperate tax (or fun tax as che and i believe). depending on how stupid or desperate you are you are placed in a varying tax bracket.

[JohnT]

Che: "Lotteries get passed by saying the money will soley be used to fund education, with the expectation that lottery earnings will be supplimental to current education spending. Instead what happens is the state defunds education by the amount that the lottery takes in and spends it on other things. It's a scam coming an going."

Bingo! I actually did a econ thesis on this quite a number of years ago, and it was staggering - some states actually lowered their education funding (adjusted for inflation) within 3 years of the lottery's implementation.

The same damned lie was used here in TN for a statewide referendum on a lottery... and the ****er passed.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by gsmoove23
Why all these bad feelings towards idiots. I know some idiots, they're good people.

I agree. Where would Apolyton be without idiots?

[Tiamat]

Considering that I won the Texas State Lottery I would have to say that yes, I'm for it.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by JohnT
Bingo! I actually did a econ thesis on this quite a number of years ago, and it was staggering - some states actually lowered their education funding (adjusted for inflation) within 3 years of the lottery's implementation.

The same damned lie was used here in TN for a statewide referendum on a lottery... and the ****er passed.

That's a very good point. I think the krux of the problem here is that lottery is intended to solely pay the education budget, rather than being integres as an extra resource of the general State's budget.

There is a public lottery in France (in fact, all gambling is public except casinos and illegal street gambling AFAIK) whose earnings go to the budget in general rather than a specific spending. The income is steady, and it has become called an "indirect tax", meaning its existence doesn't excuse the lowering of a spending in particular.

Pooling the resources of lotteries with the whole State's budget might have good consequences on the education budget. What do you think ?

[Caesar the Great]

as my math teacher used to say.... its a tax on people who don't understand probability

i'm all for it

[Ben Kenobi]

The lottery is a tax on people who can't do math.

That being said I'm against it, as a regressive tax.

[Stefu]

Well, I'm against it! I think it's horrible that people are stoned as part of some kind of a harvest ritual, and...

*Stefu is dragged away*

It isn't fair! It isn't fai

[gsmoove23]

I say tax math teachers until all people fully understand probability.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by gsmoove23
I say tax math teachers until all people fully understand probability.

[Q Classic]

@stefu.

nice.

that said, i have to say that i like georgia's lottery system, in which the lottery money is used as supplemental spending (counties are prohibited from spending those monies on things like hiring teachers, but they can use it to purchase gyms...), and for the HOPE scholarship program, in which if you maintain a B average, you get a free ride tuition-wise at any georgia public university--and at schools like gatech and uga(honors), that's not a bad deal.

too bad i don't qualify since i left ga to go out of state.

[PLATO]

John T: We will see how it goes. Have you seen the bills that the state legislature paseed a week or two ago? I haven't but from what I heard on the news there seems to already be a debate about the monetary allocation.

[Andrew1999]

I'd vote for the lottery in Arkansas if a decent proposal was put on the ballot. The last few have been outright scams--I think the people that came up with the last one ended up in prison.

I'd vote for casinos too--but none of this riverboat or reservation idiocy. Drop 'em wherever you want 'em.

[Tuberski]

If something in the store cost 8.95 and I have a ten I'll buy a dollar ticket.

I don't expect to win, but somebody wins eventually. For every 3 dollars i spend on lottery tickets, that's one less pack of cigarettes to kill myself with.



ACK!