Lotteries are typically used as a form of income for the states they are in, which on the surface sounds good. The revenue is usually promised to go towards something noble such as education or heath care. Again, on the surface, this is good. When the economy is booming people buy a few dollars worth of tickets a week and the state has instant revenue.

Now I know there are a very small minority of people that will spend their "life savings" on lottery tickets. This is no where near the problem as it is for "regular" type gambling such as horse and dog tracks, poker, black jack, roulette and the such. And even if it was, so what. If a man is not smart enough to walk out of a fire instead of into it he needs to be burnt. The answer to any problem is not at the bottom of a beer bottle, rolled up inside a joint, at the hot end of a glass pipe or at the counter where a lottery ticket is sold.

The problem starts when states start shifting revenue from let’s say schools because it’s not needed because of all the new revenue produced from gambling is coming in and the schools have more money than they can spend. Traditional tax dollars are promised to other things like roads. Then... the economy starts going a little south. Not much but enough for a liberal media to start ******* a conservative president. The state of the economy is blown all out of proportion. John Q. Citizen gets worried he’s going to loose his job because "the economy is going to pot." Mr. and Mrs. Citizen decide the need to not spend so much disposable income on disposable things, like, let’s say, lottery tickets.

Then boom! The schools don’t have enough money to take care of its students, our children. Then the very liberal American Federation of Teachers claims the sky is falling. They start begging for a tax increase "for the children." What honest politician wouldn’t want to help the kids? Then the taxes are raised and lo and behold, as if the left had some self fulfilling prophecy, the economy does start to tank. John Q and his ol’ lady loose there jobs because of layoffs and little Johnny has to go to bed hungry.

Now he is unable to learn in the socialist schools. So they lower the standards so far that all he has to do to pass is show up. He won’t learn the skills needed to analyze the depth and breadth of anything past his need for a recliner. The only problem is that a Lazy Boy is $350 and Jr. is working part time at Mickey D’s because he can’t keep a real job. So what does he do? Buys a lottery ticket in hopes of winning $350 and the whole thing starts over!

jimbo