Recently, the Powerball Lottery hit a record of 365 Million Dollars. For those who have read my previous posts, its no secret that I have a strong distaste for gambling and lotteries. However, I find these record jackpots more disturbing for other reasons. First of all, the savings rate for American families is negative and the debt level for both Government and American families are at record levels.
Second of all, manufacturing, the actual making of the products, is in the gutters. Go to any WalMart or Home Depot and you'll be hard-pressed to find anything "Made in the USA." The talk about rebuilding New Orleans right now is about oil refineries and RiverBoat casinos, not factories.

Are the Indian reservations having trouble getting jobs for the tribes? No problem, just build a casino. Is the school district short of cash for school buses? No problem, just get the State to sell more lottery tickets and put video slots in every bar. I'm sickened by Politicians who try to sell UnEarned riches instead of being honest with the taxpayers.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=...ecord_jackpot_5
http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/060111/18066.html
According to the link above,


So the question for debate is
Do Americans spend too much money on gambling?

Do Americans spend too much money on gambling?

Recently I wrote an analysis of John Dos Pasos' book, Manhattan Transfer, as part of what I do to make money. Besides giving a vivid impression of New York City from around 1900 to 1930, a major theme reveals how people make it in the land of opportunity. Here's what Pasos came up with:

Marry into wealth

Mooch from the wealth of others

Work hard at a job all your life

Cash in on Prohibition

Sue an employer

Play the stock market

One of the main characters strikes out to become a writer. Please refer to the Franklin quote at the end of my posts, but the idea is to either do or write something worthwhile and memorable.

Of these ways to gather money, the stock market is the closest thing to the lottery and casino games. The higher the risk, which is to say the lower the chance of profiting, the bigger the potential gain or loss. From this I can say that gambling has always been a part of our economic model.

Taking risks is a part of living in the United States. We are free to select which risks we will take on, except those that are just pushed upon us due to circumstances like getting laid off. Perhaps the question for debate could be framed this way:

Do Americans take enough risks?

or

Do Americans take too many risks?

I tend toward the notion that people who never buy a lottery ticket or drop a twenty on slots or black jack or whatever game aren't risk takers. Those who might buy 1,000 or more lottery tickets at a pop or drop the paycheck at the casino are in trouble. There's a happy medium, eh?

To answer the question, just because people think that the lottery is the better way of making a pile of dough than other ways simply indicates that the other ways are not seen as being workable. It's a common attitude that goes back a very long time in this country, possibly in the world. So is the other attitude that hard work will get you to where you want to be.

The truth is usually somewhere between the two. The answer to the question is yes and no. It depends. Who are we talking about? What are the specifics?

In a nutshell, the question has no answer because it is too broad. One can lose a million different ways and win a million different ways, it depends.

However, just as gambling has its elements of risk, so does not taking any risks. Oops, a paradox. Yes, well the risk is that one ends up living a boring life and dies an insignificant death if no risks are taken. My opinion on this is that most people don't take enough risks and end up in ruts that highly resemble graves.

But taking risks is just my nature. I wouldn't recommend how I've lived to anyone, really. It takes something burning in the guts, often a kick in the guts for my case. Which comes first, the burn or the kick?

It depends. . . .

Odds are that people do spend too much time and money on gambling. In fact, I'd bet that many medical professionals would agree that excessive gaming to deal with the roulette wheel of life was not a healthy way to ante up to life's challenges.

You might even find members of the psychological community to double-down on that analysis or at least hedge their bets with respect to their own wagers that excessive gambling can cause some people to crap-out.

Do Americans spend too much money on gambling?

In end result, what is gambling?

A whole lot of people losing money, and a single person, along with the government getting it.

Therefore we get two things:

Redistributation geared towards the centralization of wealth, and some extra tax revenue.

The Redistributation is bad, as wealth is worth more spread out.

Whether or not you believe the extra taxes are good or bad however, depends on your economic beliefs.

I think its better to tax and spend, then it is to print in spend, and I believe if you look at economys under presidents who increased taxes, and those whom decreased them, you'll find that the economys under the tax hiker presidents were actually generally better then those under the tax cutter ones. This infers that the tax hikes and cuts our current politicians are willing to make, are not large enough to significantly influence the economy.

Overall, economic effects being assertedly impalpable and likely negligible, we come to another question.

Is money worth more in the hands of the middle and lower class ticket buyers, then it is the hands of state governments?

What will the state governments use the money for?

Education, law enforcement, transportation, etc

All worthy causes I suppose, but what of the people buying the tickets?

I find the money's worth in their hands difficult to quantify, but frankly, even though they are all going to lose, they are still buying a service. Namely, exhilaration. On the otherhand, they are wasting a lot of time, gas, and money to get it. They also clogged up traffic.

Out of staters come into Conneticut in massive numbers to buy tickets, many of them from over 2 states away.

Is this worth the exhilaration? Is it even our affair to judge what they buy with their own money?

Maybe not, but I personally know they are being foolish, and that there are much better risks to take then the powerball, which offer much higher chances of success.

Like asking a girl out for example. Perhaps with decreased risk, and less impersonality, comes increased stake, but whatever...

I'd say my answer to the thread starters question would be yes.