tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10329278.post3551699738249287256..comments2024-03-21T11:50:22.851-03:00Comments on Pink Slip: Remind me not to buy any lottery tickets next time I’m in ChicagolandMaureen Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18010555449338575037noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10329278.post-58244215910777421382015-10-02T12:35:41.930-03:002015-10-02T12:35:41.930-03:00Lotteries can be looked at as a tax on people who ...Lotteries can be looked at as a tax on people who never learned statistics. But I think they provide good value to many of the buyers, even the ones that never win. Between the time one buys a ticket and finds out the (statistically highly likely to be bad) result, the buyer can dream about how much their life might be improved if they did win.<br /><br />That is why the best deal are those lotteries where the winners are picked only once a week; if one buys a ticket right after a drawing, then one has a full week to daydream pleasantly. That is a spectacular value for $2, or whatever the ticket costs. Scratch tickets are a bad deal because the time between buying and finding out is so short; you get so much less daydreaming time per dollar spent.<br /><br />You are right that IL is run by morons. Not paying lottery tickets to save money will put them fiscally even deeper in the hole because profits from the lotteries will dry up. It would be like a company that relies on commissioned sales people for its revenues firing all the sales people to save on commission expense.<br /><br />IL is our version of Greece. The government workers unions have all the other citizens in a strangle hold. It is even worse than that. Some time ago they got into the state constitution a provision that any promises made to government workers on pay or pensions can never be abrogated no matter the circumstances. If need be, a town or the state itself has to raise all taxes to infinity if that is what it takes, rather than reducing retiree pensions even a penny. Effectively, the citizens of IL are slaves to the government workers they ostensibly employ. A nasty situation, and a downward spiral--taxes are being raised, especially so in Chicago, causing businesses and people to flee to other states, requiring the remaining people to be taxed even more.Rick T.noreply@blogger.com