Savings Experiment: Snow Removal
The Money Man Behind Rick Santorum: Who Is Foster S. Friess?She's supposedly worth it, given that her marketing prowess has increased the Lottery's sales substantially -- and truthfully, $750 thousand per year is a drop in the bucket for the state Lottery. The average Tennessean spends 93 cents per day on lottery tickets. When you consider the fact that Lottery players are far more likely to be less-educated minority men, the terrible impact of the Lottery becomes more clear. According (PDF File) to a Georgia study, "Black males are more than 10 times as likely as white females with the same levels of education to be active lottery players. This effect is especially pronounced for less-educated black males. The model predicts that the incidence of active lottery play for that group is nearly 43%, which is more than 30 times the rate of play among non-black females who have an education above the high school level".
Sure, the lottery is raising money for education -- but it's doing so on the backs of society's most vulnerable. This is regressive taxation at its lowest ebb. And I know, it's a choice: These people are victims of their own stupidity. But is preying on people who can't do math really a noble way to raise money for education, and for Ms. Hargrove's salary?
The most scary quote of the Times piece comes from Ms. Hargrove herself:
"Anytime you buy gas, I want you to spend the change on a lottery ticket," says Ms. Hargrove, the president and chief executive of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation. "That's what I do. I raise the money, and the state spends it."
And what's scary is that a lot of people who can't afford it are doing just that.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-19-2007 @ 9:18PM
grampz05 said...
Evidently, Mr Bissonnette, the politicians that voted for and/or pushed for the lottery bare no culpability
11-19-2007 @ 11:28PM
PaulChristenson said...
The Lottery is a tax on the mathematically illiterate!!!!
11-20-2007 @ 3:44AM
Mike Sanders said...
I don't mind a lottery, but 100% of the proceeds should go to the players... Why should the government even be involved? The whole idea that government can spend our money more wisely than we can, is preposterous!
11-20-2007 @ 8:02AM
George said...
I have something for their health...www.livingberrygood.com
Sincerely,
George (U.S. Marine Retired)
11-20-2007 @ 8:12AM
Frank Larkin said...
Baffles me that it seems that the major complaint in this article is that a female is getting paid well.
She has earned it. The simple fact that lottery sales are up so dramatically is proof of her ability.
As for the lottery in general, anyone who pretends that they do not know the ods of winning is not only stupid, but a fool. The payouts are posted for most games, and what makes anyone spending that money think they are 1 in a million?
Besides the biggest tax on society is not lotteries, it is inflation. That tax hurts the people not wanting to participate.
11-20-2007 @ 9:55AM
Dani said...
I worked in a convenience store for years to support myself through college and- sorry folks- EVERYONE buys lottery tickets, whether they admit it or not. People poo-poo others for doing so but the big dirty secret is, the rich folks will come in and spend $40 and $50 dollars and the not so affluent will spend a dollar or two. People spend double and triple when the lottery gets into those hundred million marks. You can look down your nose all you want but there's a larger majority of you out there playing than you're willing to admit. It's like farting- everyone does it but everyone pretends they never have in their entire life- what a load. (No pun intended.)