printAmerican life has a vaudeville quality to it. You learn to shut it out, as you would white noise.
A perennial element of the national freak show is the obscene football scene. Another, it would appear, is the “Mega Millions” lottery. This is major news in mainstream. The queues for tickets are snaking around the country’s neighborhoods.
The odds of a “Mega Millions” jackpot win are 1 in 176 million.
What does it say of those who are placing bets on these odds?
On the horizon above the heads of those waiting in line, church spires dominate the landscape.
I can understand shelling out one miserable buck for a lotto ticket. For several days I’d get to enjoy the fantasy of winning $640 million. I’d get to daydream about how winning the lotto would change my life, and then think to myself, “Hey,I have a chance, it could happen.” And if I didn’t win the pot of gold, I’d still have a bookmark.
[Got it. I get that. That’s quite sweet, especially buying it on a whim, except that I would not queue up for it.]
While getting some gasoline in the ghetto, a woman came in and spent $20 on lottery tickets. If she does this once per week, she could have saved up for a decent downpayment in 20 years …. but NOOO.
Meanwhile, we also put money into wars, social security, medicare, and stock market bubbles – not much more sensible than the ghetto lottery woman…
Wish I had something clever to say here. I’m just having fun watching. Well anyway, hope springs eternal.
One thing can be said about betting on those odds: we libertarians (or classical liberals) are fighting against similar odds day-in and day-out.
Next week the bread and circus crowd will pull another rabbit out of the hat. No problem, ideas to entertain breed faster than real rabbits; especially since there is such a low threshold.
Worst part of it is that a huge chunk of the bettings, and then of the winnings, go to the Gubmint. These lotteries are a vast tax on the desperation (and cupidity/stupidity) of working and middle class people. And now, off to Walmart…
” Meanwhile, we also put money into wars, social security, medicare, and stock market bubbles – not much more sensible than the ghetto lottery woman… “…that’s a good one.
When the pot is at 176 million or higher, the odds for a one dollar ticket are even to good depending on how much larger the pot. What can one get with a devalued dollar, anyway?