Thomas Paine
Really Really Experienced
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2001
- Posts
- 438
In the wake of last week's big U.S. multistate lottery prize, I heard the news that the customary pool of co-workers had filed the customary lawsuit against one of the winners, claiming that the prize was property of the pool. No shock there. I was, however, shocked enough by the news that the suit had been dropped after only two days that I read an article on MSNBC about it.
This article has given me pause and now I turn here looking for some explanation.
First of all, here are the winners' plans:
Brother (lawyer) and sister (teacher) from Delaware have no plans to quit their jobs.
Married couple from Minnesota "might" buy a new house.
Unemployed ex-con from Kentucky (now there's a one-man country-and-western song) has no plans to "splurge on mansions and this and that," but is going to buy a Rolls-Royce.
No word on lifestyle changes planned for the recent ex-defendants from Maine. Maybe a new lobstuh boat.
OK, these are people who just had $30 million tax-free dropped in their laps. Do you like your job enough that would keep doing it even though you can now afford to light cigars with $1000 bills? And what would stand in your way of buying a new house? Think maybe you should start a college fund for the kids instead with your $30 million, hoping it will grow into real money?
I'm not a lottery player myself, so maybe I don't get it, but it seems to me that if you win the big one, it's time for Easy Street. Otherwise, why bother dropping five bucks at the 7-11 every week?
And, although the article was silent on it, I'll bet that these same people will be buying lottery tickets again next week.
The other thing in this article that astounded me, kind of the other side of the coin, was its claim that 70 percent of lottery winners burn through their earnings in three years! I realize that not every winner gets 30 extremely large, but even a couple of million bucks stashed in a passbook account at the local savings-and-loan will provide a decent income. Anybody with half a brain could do a whole lot better than that.
So, friends and neighbors, enlighten me. What is the mystique of the veteran lottery player? What would cause someone with $30 million bucks to keep working? What will that Rolls look like with cheater slicks and flames painted on the hood?
This article has given me pause and now I turn here looking for some explanation.
First of all, here are the winners' plans:
Brother (lawyer) and sister (teacher) from Delaware have no plans to quit their jobs.
Married couple from Minnesota "might" buy a new house.
Unemployed ex-con from Kentucky (now there's a one-man country-and-western song) has no plans to "splurge on mansions and this and that," but is going to buy a Rolls-Royce.
No word on lifestyle changes planned for the recent ex-defendants from Maine. Maybe a new lobstuh boat.
OK, these are people who just had $30 million tax-free dropped in their laps. Do you like your job enough that would keep doing it even though you can now afford to light cigars with $1000 bills? And what would stand in your way of buying a new house? Think maybe you should start a college fund for the kids instead with your $30 million, hoping it will grow into real money?
I'm not a lottery player myself, so maybe I don't get it, but it seems to me that if you win the big one, it's time for Easy Street. Otherwise, why bother dropping five bucks at the 7-11 every week?
And, although the article was silent on it, I'll bet that these same people will be buying lottery tickets again next week.
The other thing in this article that astounded me, kind of the other side of the coin, was its claim that 70 percent of lottery winners burn through their earnings in three years! I realize that not every winner gets 30 extremely large, but even a couple of million bucks stashed in a passbook account at the local savings-and-loan will provide a decent income. Anybody with half a brain could do a whole lot better than that.
So, friends and neighbors, enlighten me. What is the mystique of the veteran lottery player? What would cause someone with $30 million bucks to keep working? What will that Rolls look like with cheater slicks and flames painted on the hood?
