We Have a Winner

Dear Blog Reader.

I hope that this finds you doing well. To those of you out East, get out the sled and enjoy your self. Don't worry about the snow shovel. That just sounds like work. Maybe you haven't been keeping up on your aerobic activities. Your core is a little weaker. Who knows you may be one shovel full of snow away from a coronary. No you should stay in. Hopefully, the neighbor ignored the admonitions of those who know that statistically, we rarely need a snow blower. Hopefully, they went out and spent lots of $ on a really big snow blower as big as a Mack Truck. They have been waiting patiently for 24 inches of snow. All you have to do is wait. They will come by. It is best to play hard to get. Of course this will mean careful planning and listening to the weather persons every time they predict snowmagedeon; every time a flurry is predicted 10 days in advance. Don't worry Costco makes it much easier. You have to build an add on to hold the 1000 rolls of toilet paper. But you don't have to run down the the grocery every time a storm is named. So much easier than the olden days when you had to go out to the coop to collect the eggs and the barn to milk the cow and the granary for some wheat to make the bread. No French Toast snow days are much easier in these modern times.

Speaking of spending lots of $, I am assuming that since you are reading this you did not win the 1.5 billion power ball prize. That is amazing. $1.5 billion is mind blowing. Of course I did not win either. I am in awe of the power of those huge lottery drawings. My economics training is twisted all over the place. When I buy it, the ticket is worth $2. When I hold it in my hand, it is worth $1.5 billion. After mid-night on Saturday, it isn't worth a thing. Except for three lucky winners, at midnight it was worth $1.5 billion and by Sunday morning it was only worth $500 million. The same little sheet of paper was all of those things. Almost as confusing as Christianity and the Trinity.

Of course I didn't win. If truth be known, I should not win. It isn't some ethos against gambling. I don't believe that I will burn for playing the lottery once every three years. Although I do think that there is a moral prohibition against gambling for the good of society. In all honesty, society has left the station selling addictions to the masses. Cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate, purses and shoes, come one come all. The profit margins are high and demand stays high also. We are addicted. How else do you explain $4 Starbucks coffee?

No, I don't deserve to win. I am too greedy. The first thought out of my tiny, greedy little pea brain after I found that I would be sharing my $1.5 billion with two other people (3 if I count the government's portion) would be how can I knock off those other two people or destroy their tickets so that all of the $ would be mine. If no one claims the $ then they aren't winners. Someone contact Facebook, "Would you kill someone for $500,000,000? What about $1,000,000,000 would you kill two someone's for that?" There are a lot of people who don't deserve to win $1.5 billion. I must admit that I have that character flaw. It manifested early in life. I should have been happy and content with the candy bar from Grandma, but I was plotting how to get my sisters' and cousins' candy bars also. Even today, I charge kids candy tax for taking them Trick or Treating. I have found that if want to emulate someone emulate the government pilfering abilities. They are experts.

I'll bet that there is a movie or book idea in the premise. A maniacal sociopath wins the lottery for $1.5 billion and finds that he has to share it with 2 other people. He then sets out to find a way to destroy the other people and or tickets to have all of the money for himself and not have the guilt pinned on himself. It could involve wild car accidents, breaking into safe deposit vaults. All sorts of plot twists and turns avail themselves. Go ahead and take the idea. It is not on my resolutions list for 2016. I am way too busy for that. I see Joe Pesci or Dany DeVito in the lead. I would mind Justin Bieber getting whacked in a crossover roll from his "music" career. You could make it darker and have Christopher Walken play the maniacal sociopath. That's it. You have to do part of the work. Have fun.

This character defect also manifests itself when it comes to going in with your office workers to buy a block of tickets. I can't stand the idea of sharing my winnings with two people. Why would I want to share my third with an additional 10 people. Oh my gosh, I break out in hives just thinking about it. What started out as $1.5 billion is now suddenly approximately $45.45 million. That will put a crimp in your Life Style of the Rich and Famous.

Speaking of story problems, who was the genius who came up with $1.3 BILLION / 300,000,000 CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES = EVERYONE RECEIVES $4.3 MILLION: POVERTY SOLVED? Did you "Like" it? Did you repost it? Did you say "yeah, I knew it was bogus that the math was wrong. I just reposted because I thought that it was funny that it was so wrong. When the smart kid posted it is only $4.33 cents? Oh sure now you are all about keeping your decimals straight. Yeah, Leroy you were only off 6 decimal places. What is a million times wrong between friends?

If a strong democracy is dependent on an educated citizenry then I fear for our democracy. Yes, those people who don't know a million dollars from a hole in the ground get to vote. Bless their souls, their hearts are in the right place. Poverty is so intractable. We have been warring against it since the 60's and yet the poor are still with us. It is a problem looking for a solution and some well meaning, mathematically and economically illiterate human being thought that they had found 1,500,000,000 solutions. A little bit of math and an appropriations committee and we would be rolling in the dough. It does defy common sense. Most of the contributors to the power ball mania are poor hoping for a way out. The lottery is one of the most regressive taxes that we have. It is the poor who are throwing the Hail Mary for riches. The rich have access to much less risky ways of making money. 1.75% for tax free municipal bonds may only return $0.0175 on the dollar but you multiply that by 1.5 billion and let's just say the rich aren't looking for a power ball retailer near you. That plus their $26 million a year is tax free. So stick with me here, in 50 years they will have earned a second 1.5 billion tax free and even with inflation they are doing okay.

So the poor who don't have two dimes to rub together are putting most of the money into the pot and suddenly through the magic of randomly generated numbers it turns into $4.3 million dollars for all of the poor and the rich combined? Come on people. Let's just say if you believed it please, please stay away from the polling booth on November 7th. (I know it's the eighth but we are talking about people who believe everything that they see on the web. I am doubling down.)

This lack of economic common sense and mathematical ability concerns me in the opposite direction also. If a segment of society believes that you can make 300 million people millionaires with $1.5 billion, I am guessing that a larger segment of society has no concept of how much each of them owe on the national debt. The national debt currently stands a little north of $19,000,000,000. That's $19 trillion. A little quick math and you all owe $63. Quick do create a meme. Get it out there on Facebook. "If we all just contribute 30 Starbucks coffees the USA would be debt free."

I'm kidding. 19 trillion has 12 zeros not 9. You all owe $63,000. See how easy it is to lose track. I might be able to swing it with the equity in the house and a few trips to the pawn brokers but my 5 year old nephew is screwed. Yes, we won't be paying that loan off any time soon, and you can take that to the bank on your way to the voting booth on November 9th.

Take care

Roger