Educating suckers

Discussion in 'Education' started by Flanders, Apr 14, 2012.

  1. Flanders

    Flanders Well-Known Member

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    Do a little research and you will find scholarly objections to lotteries funding education. Those tomes never focus their objections on the gambling aspect of lotteries. I, too, have no objection to gambling even though lotteries are surely sucker bets offered by crooked operators.

    On the plus side lottery players abide by gambling’s golden rule: Never bet a lot to win a little. Having put the sucker bet in perspective, I want to point out some things lottery players should know before they plunk down their dough on fickle Ping-Pong balls with numbers on them.

    First, the tax on lottery winnings is another example of the government punishing winners. A more ludicrous example was when New York City’s OTB charged a five percent surtax on the money won —— not counting the original bet. So if you were dumb enough to bet a deuce on a prohibitive favorite that won and created a minus pool, by law you had to be paid 10 cents on a $2 bet. The 10 cents was hit with the surcharge. Five percent of a dime comes to half of a penny. I was never sure how NYC collected it.

    Seven states do not have a lottery:

    1. Alabama
    2. Alaska
    3. Hawaii
    4. Mississippi
    5. Nevada
    6. Utah
    7. Wyoming

    There is no national lottery; however, the folks in those 7 states are smart enough to get a free ride because they derive some benefit from the taxes the federal government collects from lottery winners in the other 43 states.

    Right from the start of modern-day lotteries state legislators shafted the people by asking for permission to change a state’s constitution and establish a lottery. Voters were never told the details. In short: Voters should have voted on the actual lottery law rather than just giving their state government permission to establish a lottery.

    Incidentally, before lottery states reluctantly agreed to lump sum pay-outs, the state got the uncollected money from lottery winners who died before they had collected all twenty payments. The dead winner’s heirs got nothing. Somebody who knew a lot about lotteries told me about that gimmick a long time ago. I never saw it in writing, but I don’t doubt it.

    In most cases a lottery’s big selling point was “Funding education.” After the voters said yes the parasites in government did whatever they pleased. That always meant screwing the public. Passing the Affordable Care Act employed the same method lottery hustlers used although the federal government did not ask voters for permission to change the US Constitution.

    Remember this one?:


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV-05TLiiLU&feature=player_detailpage

    Everybody now knows what they got with Hillarycare II. Let’s look at what the public actually got from their state governments.

    The first thing the public got was false advertising. The state advertises a jackpot knowing darn well a winner will only get approximately half of the advertised amount.

    Let’s say that you are an average American and you win a jackpot advertised at 20 million dollars. The federal government will take approximately 10 million in taxes. In addition to the fact there is no way in hell the federal government can ever return 10 million dollars in services if you lived another thousand years ask yourself how many billionaires ever pay 10 million in taxes in one year —— if ever?

    Pay ten dollars in taxes, or pay ten million dollars in taxes, and the average person will get the same treatment from the federal government —— “Thanks cluck. Now hit the road.” Should you buy any other product with that same guaranteed outcome your loved ones better lock you away in a dark room.

    States that have a tax on income also take a bite. I know that New York City also takes a bite from residents who win a lottery.

    NOTE: California has an income tax but does not tax lottery winnings as income. That is weird considering California is a state that taxes everything else to death.

    The yearly amount taken by the federal government is substantial in those states with large populations, not to mention those big multi-state lotteries where jackpots often grow to hundreds of millions of dollars. The recent 640 million dollar jackpot will send approximately 320 million to the federal government without the federal government ever having spent a penny to get the money. The winners could live to be a million years old and there is no way they would get $320,000,000 worth of services in return for their money. And it is their money. They paid for the tickets and they won the jackpot.

    Realistically, a minute number of people will win a lottery in each state; so lottery players should look at what they spend —— not what they hope to win. They should realize that fifty cents out of every dollar they spend on lottery tickets is going straight to the federal government.

    Many voters who would never buy a lottery ticket voted for a state lottery because they thought they would benefit through education funding, etc. Had voters fully examined the tax ripoff before they voted, I doubt if enough votes could have been found to approve of a lottery in any state. How many voters living in a state with a lottery give a thought to how much money the federal government takes out of their state only to see the money disappear down the federal rat hole?

    The hook that grabbed voters said that lottery revenues would help fund higher education. Yet, after sending half of the money earned from lottery sales to the federal government every state that earmarks lottery money for higher education claims a budget shortfall. So education ends up with taxpayers making up the never-ending shortfalls rather than simply keeping the lottery money that is sent to the federal government.

    In case you are wondering about it, there is not a chance the federal government returns more tax dollars than it takes from any state. If funding higher education is the true goal of state lotteries the money that goes to the federal government should stay in the state.

    NOTE: The federal government subsidizes higher education as a way to cultivate a collectivist mentality in young adults as well as offset the costs involved in educating illegal aliens. Institutions of higher learning refusing to cooperate with the Department of Education get squat. They all cooperate.

    Tax exempt financial instruments are wondrous things; so it would be a simple matter for any state to structure its lottery so that winners get the full advertised amount. States do it with tax exempt bonds; so it should be an easy matter to set up something for lottery winners.

    Also, some of America’s wealthiest “humanitarians” are allowed tax writeoffs when they give untold millions to foreign charities. Does anyone know if an average person can claim a deduction by contributing to their favorite charity with the money the federal government is grabbing?

    Imagine winning a $300,000,000 jackpot and telling the federal government that you want the government’s $150,000,000 to go to your church in order to qualify for the deduction on your $150,000,000. Guess how far you would get with that effort?

    I always hoped that a person with a winning ticket would give the winning ticket to a tax exempt charity. The charity could then demand all of the money when it claimed the prize. I wonder how that would play out?

    Finally, I do not like to cite anything in Canada favorably. I’m afraid my positive comments would be taken as an endorsement for Canada’s socialized medicine. Nevertheless, I have to praise Canada’s lottery. Winners get the full amount tax free. Not only that, the interest the money earns in one year is also tax free. That encourages winners to put the money in the bank; calm down, and plan carefully, instead of going on a foolish spending spree the minute they get the dough.

    I must add that that is the way I remember the Canadian lottery. It might have changed over the years. If I am remembering the Canadian lottery correctly how come the folks on the Left never mention Canada’s tax exempt lottery when they praise socialist Canada as a utopian paradise?

    Here’s a nice article that offers another look at lotteries:


    Lottery Lessons
    By Ron Ross on 4.12.12 @ 6:07AM

    http://spectator.org/archives/2012/04/12/lottery-lessons
     
  2. Reiver

    Reiver Well-Known Member

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    No, they're an example of risk loving behaviour and ultimately a tax on the poor
     
  3. Clint Torres

    Clint Torres New Member

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    In the USA people gamble as a form of entertainment. The losers are the fools who don't understand odds, and continue to try and beat the odds. There is a reson the casinos make billions each month. It's because of odds on games. In every game the odds are with the house. the odds vary from game to game. The longer someone plays the game (or the longer the casino operates the game) the odds will become more true. Hence, the casinos winning off the suckers who may get lucky a few times, but in the long run, the casinos will profit.

    Most States in the USA have gambling casinos via the Indians (feather type, not 7-11 type), and gambling is a profitable buisness for the casinos, and they do pay their fair share of taxes. But realistical, how can any casino account accurately the amount of cash it takes in. After all, tehy are dealing in pure cash exchange. Money is put in steel boxes, and taken to the back where a machine counts the bills. Who is to say the worker is or is not skimming for them and/or the casino? The masses are not required to report losses or winning under a specific amount $1200. Only a small few will ever be required to report amounts over $1200, because table games are on small cash amounts of hundreds of dollars on a single bet, and the payment is in chips. And when you cash in $5000 to $10000 in chips, you do not need to file a tax form.

    Some say PA has become the largest gambling town in the USA over Las Vegas. Seems like in the past 20 years more and more States are turning to casinos for their tax money. So I think the lotto is no different. But the feact remains: the USA public school is such a huge costly failure, that states need to suplement their income just to pay off their school debt.
     
  4. Flanders

    Flanders Well-Known Member

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    The odds against winning a lottery are bad enough, but selling misprinted scratch off tickets to the suckers is painful to the people who think they won.

    And did anyone ever think that printed scratch off tickets are easy to control and the ideal way for the government to payoff an operative for doing a piece of dirty work? The “prize” could range from a few thousand dollars to a million. No paper trail, no foreign banks, equals no proof.


    Paul Pasquarosa's Misprinted Lottery Ticket Fooled Him Into Thinking He Won $1 Million
    The Huffington Post | By Emily Cohn Posted: 05/10/2012 11:47 am Updated: 05/10/2012 1:02 pm

    Imagine holding what you believe to be a winning lottery ticket worth $1 million, only to find out that the ticket was printed in error and is worth nothing more than a good story to tell the local news.

    That's what happened to Paul Pasquarosa of Boston, an unemployed father of two, who spent $10 on a lottery ticket the day before his birthday. (Hat tip to Time Newsfeed.)

    Upon uncovering three red words on a scratch-off Cashword ticket, Pasquarosa believed he'd won the lottery's $1 million prize, according to CBS Boston.

    “I’m looking at it; I have three red words. It says three red words wins a million dollars. I called my son and told him things were gonna be OK,” Pasquarosa told CBS Boston.

    But Pasquarosa's joy was short-lived. When he showed the ticket to his lawyer, it was revealed that there was a "offset in the printing," according to CBS. Evidently, of the 20 million tickets printed, 2,200 of them were defective.

    According to Time, lottery officials attempted to prevent the misprinted tickets from being sold. Pasquarosa's ticket was worth nothing.

    This isn't the first time a misprint on a lottery ticket has caused a serious let-down.

    Ann Marie Curcio sued the Florida Lottery for breach of contract after they dismissed her "winning" lottery ticket -- a ticket Curcio believed was worth $500,000, but was in fact printed in error, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The case has yet to go to trial, according to a local television station.

    Pasquarosa's case might be exceptional, but stories of down-on-their-luck Americans playing the lottery in the hopes of a windfall are all too common. Financial hardship seems to have driven more lotto-ticket sales in recent years, as the job market has remained sluggish and wages have failed to rise for most workers.

    That, in turn, has led critics to label the lottery a "regressive tax" -- a financial mechanism that tends to draw the most money out of the poorest people.

    If you think you have a defective lottery ticket, it can be reported to the Lottery’s Claims/Legal Department, according to CBS.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...id10|htmlws-main-bb|dl1|sec1_lnk2&pLid=159562
     
  5. Reiver

    Reiver Well-Known Member

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    Yep. Bloke next door won 2 quid yesterday. He definitely had a an evil glint in his eye, like he had just bumped off the squirrels in the North Korean embassy
     
  6. Clint Torres

    Clint Torres New Member

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    Lotteries make no big impact on the debt the USA states rack up each year. That is why they cut into public safety and other programs.

    Fact is during the 1990s the Growth of USA public schools have become a huge overgrown burden on each state other than those isolated ones like montana and the dakotas. Fact is the States are in such unge debt they will never be able to pay off the private investor municiple bond holders.

    The lotto is like a fantasy, it keeps people thinking their state is doing great paying off their education system when in fact it does not even make an impact on the tax debt ran up by the public schools system.
     
  7. Flanders

    Flanders Well-Known Member

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    I wonder what is going on here:

    I cannot see the federal government cutting off billions of dollars they collect without doing a damn thing to get it.

    Maybe states are considering my suggestion. Structure lottery payoffs so that winners get the full amount in tax exempt bonds. Any hint of tax exempt bonds would be enough for the federal government to threaten to ban state lotteries.


    Online gambling and state lotteries should be left up to the states—not Congress
    By Guest Column - Jeffrey R. Anderson, Stephen Martino and Charles McIntyre August 13, 2014

    WASHINGTON - From public education to increasing economic development to promoting health and public wellness to funding programs for veterans and senior citizens, state lotteries across the country have contributed billions of dollars to make our states and communities better.

    In 2013 alone, the nation’s 44 state lotteries raised more than $20 billion for good causes. This means more teachers in the classroom, enhanced public services and more vibrant communities.

    Because of the important role state lotteries play in investing in our communities - and our states’ futures - we are concerned with the recent efforts in Congress to pass a nationwide ban on Internet gambling and lottery sales.

    We firmly believe that all decisions about gambling should continue to be left to each individual state. It should be at their discretion what games, if any at all, are offered and through what manner they are delivered.

    Some of the undersigned lottery states have no intention of offering expanded gambling, but we are united in our belief that this is not and should not be a federal “one size fits all” decision.

    For Congress to pass a sweeping nationwide ban would be a devastating blow not only to lotteries but to everyone impacted by their contributions.

    A recent analysis shows that if this ban, which includes major, unintended consequences to long-standing lottery business practices, should pass, states could lose up to $5.5 billion annually.

    Direct assault on states’ rights

    What would that mean in practical terms? It would mean less money for schools and fewer teachers. Fewer police officers on the street. Less care for seniors. Fewer services for veterans. Its inevitable consequence would be some states losing out on much-needed revenue to provide the services their citizens need and have come to expect.

    It also would be a direct assault on states’ rights. Since 1964 with the founding of the first modern state lottery in New Hampshire, states have effectively, safely and responsibly operated lotteries. They have ensured transparency and promoted fair play.

    Should some states choose to employ Internet gambling or lottery sales, the same extensive safeguards and high standards would be put into place. But it’s a choice that each state should have the option to make.

    Modern public policy regarding casino gambling and lotteries has been governed by the sensibilities of the states. Efforts by some members of Congress to substitute their judgment for those of the states on Internet gambling and lottery policy should be rejected.

    The proposed federal ban on all Internet gambling that also contemplates sweeping changes to long-standing lottery business practices would hurt those who benefit from the good causes lotteries support, weakening our communities and their futures.

    Jeffrey R. Anderson is the director of the Idaho Lottery, Stephen Martino is the director of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, and Charles McIntyre is the executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery. Readers may write them at 700 13th Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20005.

    http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/65274
     

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