$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('entropyfails', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('0mar', 'T')he break-even point is wrong.
If you are waiting for the lotto to hit a certain amount before you buy a dollar ticket, you are merely assuring yourself that you aren't being scammed. Cognitive dissonance FTW.
PeakOil is You
THE US Tax Thread (merged)
Re: State lottos are ridiculous hidden taxation on stupid gr
by 12amps » Thu 18 May 2006, 11:37:35
No, these people simply place a limiter on their gambling frequency by using unusually large cash prizes as a parameter.
The cognitive dissonance comes from people who REALLY, REALLY want to feel smarter and better than other people, so they invent bogus excuses to diss on others.
I feel glad that you don’t obsessively gamble and I wished that the 20% of the lotto players who ruin their lives didn’t do that. But the argument that you have to be dumb about math to play the lottery doesn’t hold up. It doesn’t even come close.
entropyfails,
A lot of what you said here and in above posts in this thread is correct.
The lottery certainly is better than some of the nastier habits that people
may choose to do.. And in Texas the profits go to education, so it IS put
to good & decent use.
The lottery is not a TAX in the sense that you can choose NOT to play if
you don't want to. And yes, the lottery is nothing but a symptom of the
much greater underlying root problem of society in general.
But there is only real point I have been trying to get across
to people like you and Spec.
1) The entire 'system' (lottery system) does not actually
'produce' anything of true value, and it does not create
'wealth' nor does it do the greatest good for the greatest
number of people. Teachers, firefighters, doctors,
coal miners, engineers, programmers, etcetc these people help
build and maintain a society and support the way of life for
everyone. What do 'lotto players' DO?
Please do not use fire insurance as an example again.
Fire unfortunately is something that, according to
the laws of physics in this universe, is allowed to happen
and sometimes burned and destroyes the collection of atoms
of Homo Sapeins. In order to prevent total devastation from such
a loss, people agree to make a money pool.
(I get the insurance/lottery connection, enough..)
What natural disaster is the lottery trying to mitigate?
Life insurance,...OK, we all might die any day..
Car insurance, .. stupid people don't know how to drive...
Lottery...?? Can't think of one, greed and avarice, maybe?
Does the Lottery HELP society or harm it?
Work, Energy, Money, and Time are all intimately related. I'm
sure you and Spec know that already. (by Work here I am
refering not so much to occupation but rather the 'work'
in physical terms.)
Teachers, firefighters, doctors,
coal miners, engineers, programmers, etcetc these people help
build and maintain a society and support the way of life for
everyone. What do 'lotto players' DO?
TIME, ENERGY, and WORK, is spent on printing the lotto paper,
spent on managing the lotto, marketing and advertsising the lotto,
promotions, etc. That TIME, ENERGY is not recoverable as you should well know (neither would it be recoverable if we were doing anything else, yes I know that...)
But had that TIME, ENERGY, WORK be used to plant a avacado tree in ones back yard, or help pick up trash on the side of the highway, or teach your kid some math lessons,
or help volunteer, something useful would have been accomplish, and that to me
is the true definition of 'wealth' and 'money'.
What EXACTLY is done by playing the lotto? The activity itself does nothing to
better mans standing, nor does it improve ones enviroment.
It is, like I said earlier, nothing more than a unequal (if it was
equal no one would ever play the game, cause you put in $1 and
get 40 cents back) transfer and distribution of wealth (money) that was
previously EARNED by doing something of ACTUAL VALUE.
Granted some (a VERY VERY FEW) will get very rich by playing.
(Do you think most of these poeple will spend there money wisely, and
in a sustainable way?, do these people BENEFIT society or just add
to the Javerns paradox?)
But it is STILL A PYRAMID SCHEME. There must first exist wealth before
any lotto system will work. That wealth was earned by real people doing
real work and adding real value to this society. This lotto scam of unequal trading
and prospecting does not produce one iota of real value and yet CONSUMES
signicant amounts of TIME, WORK, ENERGY, MONEY that cannot be recovered.
It is beyond Stupid.
Why I pick on lotteries? Because the general public KNOWs smoking, drugs,
etc is bad. If they still want to do it then thats their choice.
The general public DOES NOT KNOW lottos are just as bad.
That is what makes the difference.
ex. Why do I bash the United States and not China?
The world in general KNOWS China is not a free country,
not that like democracy, and has serious serious human rights issues.
The world (in general) DOES NOT know the true America.
I pick on America becuase AMERICA simply IS the most hypocritical Nation
that has ever existed on earth. Hypocritical in every sense of the word.
I think higher of someone would comes to me and admits he made a mistake than
someone who I caught making a mistake but said nothing of it. I think higher
still of someone who I caught making a mistake than someone who makes a mistake
and pretends nothing was wrong, lies to me about how perfect he is and blames it
all on someone else.
America is the most double faced, double standard, hypocritical nation on the
face of the earth. A lot of nations are 'eviler' than America, but none are
as HYPOCRITICAL. (use a dictionary if you don't know what the word REALLY means..)
Thats exactly the same for the lotto. Government sponsered, state sponsered,
LEGAL gammbling, that supports an educational system, that makes people rich,
that gives people hope, that is fun to play, that football players indorse,
and that is a healthy insurance and great investment for the general public.,
People have no clue...
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Re: State lottos are ridiculous hidden taxation on stupid gr
by max_power29 » Thu 18 May 2006, 11:55:08
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('entropyfails', '
')
So in conclusion, you hate the injustice of the world and have projected it onto the lotto system. If you remove that projection, you will BETTER understand reality and thus have a better chance of building effective programs for ridding the true evil, injustice.
')
So in conclusion, you hate the injustice of the world and have projected it onto the lotto system. If you remove that projection, you will BETTER understand reality and thus have a better chance of building effective programs for ridding the true evil, injustice.
Good point. I think I catch myself doing this a lot too. I wonder, Why do people even teach kids the concept of justice at all when justice doesn't really exist in the world and never will?
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Re: State lottos are ridiculous hidden taxation on stupid gr
by max_power29 » Thu 18 May 2006, 11:56:56
I'll answer my question myself: perhaps its to get people to support and lock into the grand Ponzi scheme along with everyone else that already got suckered into it. Without fresh meat it fails
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max_power29 - Tar Sands
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Re: State lottos are ridiculous hidden taxation on stupid gr
by 12amps » Thu 18 May 2006, 12:10:50
So in conclusion, you hate the injustice of the world and have projected it onto the lotto system. If you remove that projection, you will BETTER understand reality and thus have a better chance of building effective programs for ridding the true evil, injustice.
Injustice is the true evil? If so, 'EVIL' is simply an attribute of
all 'animate organic lifeforms'. "EVIL' as you call it,
evolved as an adaptational advantage to acquire the max amount of
resources in the min amount of time. (ie like cheating.)
Speaking of cheating, infidelity is actually 'cheating' in the
sense that its also a form of acquiring resources without paying
for it (from the females perspective) and from the males prospective
its continuation of life without paying for it (staying around & helping out the female)
The fact that cheating 'FEELS' good, (whatever kind of cheating) is simply a
parallel to the real unmotivated-physical reality that 'motivates' us to do it.
Those lifeforms that didn't practice this habit of 'cheating' and 'evil' for
'conquered' and had their numbers squished and finally made extinct as those
more 'efficent' cheaters took over.
However there is a point of dimishing returns of cheating, (thats why we
aren't killing the person next to us and taking his wallet right now)
For a 'soceity' to be sustained one needs a certain level of cooperation and
collaberation. Those cheaters would exceed this level too far (who are on the OTHER
end of the spectrum) are also quickly eliminated.
Human beings as we know it have reached an 'equlilibrium'. We are
slightly polygamous beings with highly skilled deception methods.
So your EVIL will never go away. Sorry buddy, THAT IS REALITY.
[u]
Injustice is the true evil? If so, 'EVIL' is simply an attribute of
all 'animate organic lifeforms'. "EVIL' as you call it,
evolved as an adaptational advantage to acquire the max amount of
resources in the min amount of time. (ie like cheating.)
Speaking of cheating, infidelity is actually 'cheating' in the
sense that its also a form of acquiring resources without paying
for it (from the females perspective) and from the males prospective
its continuation of life without paying for it (staying around & helping out the female)
The fact that cheating 'FEELS' good, (whatever kind of cheating) is simply a
parallel to the real unmotivated-physical reality that 'motivates' us to do it.
Those lifeforms that didn't practice this habit of 'cheating' and 'evil' for
'conquered' and had their numbers squished and finally made extinct as those
more 'efficent' cheaters took over.
However there is a point of dimishing returns of cheating, (thats why we
aren't killing the person next to us and taking his wallet right now)
For a 'soceity' to be sustained one needs a certain level of cooperation and
collaberation. Those cheaters would exceed this level too far (who are on the OTHER
end of the spectrum) are also quickly eliminated.
Human beings as we know it have reached an 'equlilibrium'. We are
slightly polygamous beings with highly skilled deception methods.
So your EVIL will never go away. Sorry buddy, THAT IS REALITY.
[u]
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12amps - Peat
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Re: State lottos are ridiculous hidden taxation on stupid gr
by entropyfails » Thu 18 May 2006, 13:39:28
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('12amps', '[')b]entropyfails,
A lot of what you said here and in above posts in this thread is correct.
The lottery certainly is better than some of the nastier habits that people
may choose to do.. And in Texas the profits go to education, so it IS put
to good & decent use.
A lot of what you said here and in above posts in this thread is correct.
The lottery certainly is better than some of the nastier habits that people
may choose to do.. And in Texas the profits go to education, so it IS put
to good & decent use.
Glad you understand!
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('12amps', '
')But there is only real point I have been trying to get across
to people like you and Spec.
1) The entire 'system' (lottery system) does not actually
'produce' anything of true value, and it does not create
'wealth' nor does it do the greatest good for the greatest
number of people. Teachers, firefighters, doctors,
coal miners, engineers, programmers, etcetc these people help
build and maintain a society and support the way of life for
everyone. What do 'lotto players' DO?
Really? After all that, this ends up being your argument? Try to think about this carefully and I think you will see my point.
1)For the vast majority of people, it is an ENTERTAINING RISK. Entertainment is not Satan.
2)For a very few people, it was in incredibly great investment AND entertainment.
3)For all the people “wasting” in the above mentioned process of running a lotto, It's their job man.
What do nude mud wrestling matches “do”? They waste energy to make the mud. They pander to the poor and uneducated with the least means to afford such frivolousness. And you have NO chance of getting a return on your investment. I've used the exact same criteria for discounting lotteries but now we have to ban nude mud wrestling too. That is the true power of reductio ad absurdum. Note how this differs from your slippery slope arguments given.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('12amps', '
')Please do not use fire insurance as an example again.
Fire unfortunately is something that, according to
the laws of physics in this universe, is allowed to happen
and sometimes burned and destroyes the collection of atoms
of Homo Sapeins. In order to prevent total devastation from such
a loss, people agree to make a money pool.
(I get the insurance/lottery connection, enough..)
Exactly. Low utility cost + Low probability of payout against Unfathomably large payout.
You don't "get it." It is the same investment except Insurance Companies don't have a random game attached, so it doesn't count as entertainment.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('12amps', 'W')hat natural disaster is the lottery trying to mitigate?
Because the economy only exists to mitigate natural disasters?
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('12amps', 'L')ife insurance,...OK, we all might die any day..
