We Are All Unicorn-Hunters Now
When faith in the American Dream of hard-work-leading-to-success is crushed by the tyrannical over-reach of an ever-expanding government footprint and centrally-planned wealth redistribution, there is only one thing for "average joes" to do... jump on the ultimate "get rich quick" scheme.
Americans have never piled so much money into such a long-shot as The Powerball lottery hits a stunning $1.4 billion payout - making everyone a unicorn hunter now...
Jackpot for Wednesday's Powerball drawing rises to $1.4 billion with $867.9 million cash value
And the key to success, according to Fox:
So go ahead - make that 1 in 292,000,000 bet - and good luck. Just don't forget: a lottery is just a clever way for the government to tax you.
(18 votes)
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ZH town will be expanded to several locations including a new TV network and several WB7 art galleries/pubs.
Can't Win if you don't play... just saying... yea yea a tax on the stupid but I just CAN'T Help myself...
Tax on the stupid, but it gives me a mental escape for a couple days...that's half of it.
Mathematically, it makes sense to play only when the prize exceeds $292,200,000, i. e. the potential reward fairly offsets the long odds. Now is such a time.
For myself, I'm keeping an eye out for the winning ticket wherever I go, because the odds of *finding* the winning ticket aren't much different than the odds of buying it.
Nah, more participants, more winners, after the split, taxes, and discount knockoff for up front payment, still a suckers bet.
However, can't catch a fish with my hook out of the water, where do I buy?
Incorrect. The estimated lump sum award for a $1.4 billion "prize" is $868 million. After 40% combined federal and state taxes on the lump sum, a winner is left with $521 million. A Powerball ticket requires a $2 bet, and so with odds of winning at 1 in 292 million, you would need an after-tax payout of $584 million to produce an expected value (not taking into account you could win a non-jackpot prize) greater than the value of your bet, and that is forgetting about the probability of more than one winner of the jackpot (a likely occurrence given the number of people who will be playing on this draw, and a probability incalculable due to humans differing propensities to play numbers you may select).
All that said, the expected value of a $2 bet will likely exceed $2 taking into account non-jackpot prizes, so taking a flyer on this Powerball is not nearly as poor an investment wager as most financial instruments today in our central bank-inflated bubble stock and bond markets.
It's a small voluntary tax- the way taxes should be, if you MUST have taxes (which is debatable).
double post
triple post
Not me.
If you won this Powerball jackpot the taxes you'd pay on it would feed the Feral Government for about 7 minutes.
The sad truth is the actual answer is 8.05 seconds based on the $3.68 trillion in 2015 expenditures (if you believe Treasury's numbers). 343.6 million in federal taxes keeps the government going for 8.05 seconds.
8.05 fucking seconds.
But that is not a problem am i right? BTFD?
US Budget (projected) for 2016 is 3.999 trillion (Let's call it 4 Trillion even, because we don't trust Obama's "precise" math too much).
There's 31,536,000 seconds in a year, which means the Gov't will spend $126,839.16 per second in 2016, which equals about 45 minutes 7 seconds of Gov't funding for the Lottery tax.
Here's a infographic visualizing US Gov't budget in $100 bills (per second, per minute, etc.):
http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/us_deficit/us_deficit.html
If you buy two tickets with different numbers, your odds of winning go up to 1 in 291,999,999.
Wouldn't it be about 1 in 146,000,000 if you bought 2; 1 in about 29,000,000 if you bought 10?
That's government math!
I'd pick the same numbers so I'd win twice!
(If Amerika lasts long enough that will be said seriously)
Did that by accident once. Since I wasn't a jackpot winner, I won over $500. Guy in front of me didn't want an extra scratch off, I bought it before the clerk put it back in the rack. Won $1000. I only dabble though; most of the retirees around here drop $2-300 a week on lottery and spend most of their days on the poker machines.
Pull tab bingo is too much for me. I did win $100 bucks one night. Bought the whole bar a round.
Of course, it was an American Legion, so it cost me like $25.
I could lose $100 bucks at the church bazaar. I don't think gambling is my drug of choice. Well, not a good one anyways.
pods
Common Core actually
Voluntary tax.
Fortunately, no one who buys lottery tickets has any debt.
Winner of Powerball (again) - .gov
Revenues will be for the schools.
Better buy a bitcoin ticket. Every ticket wins!
watch Soros win it...
One day, long about 30 years ago when the California lottery first got started, I bought one of those scratcher deals and won $20. Felt pretty proud of myself. So a day or so later I was visiting with the old man and I pulled the winning stub out and showed it to him. I said it was kinda fun and planned to do it again - and again... He looked at me with the sort of gimlet gaze that basically cuts one off at the knees, and said:
'I'll never participate in something that I didn't work for to earn...'
From that day forward, I never purchased another ticket, nor have since had any plans to 'participate'.
Scratching off that covering is work.
Hell, more honest than HFT?
i will admit it. i bought a ticket.
Once a year in Vegas I play roulette. This is the same thing to me. Gotta play to win, just don't make it a habit.
Thank you for paying my taxes.
Sincerely,
Automatic Choke,
Las Vegas, NV
nah... I am well ahead lifetime. They're paying me.
I bought 11 on Friday and will by 10 more today, it's worth $20 to sit around and talk about all the fun shit we are going to do if we win. It's not the same if you don't buy a ticket. I'm sure on my death bed I will be really upset about the $42 I pissed away on the lottery.
I always buy if there's an office pool. Not because I believe that I'll win - it's just insurance in case the office pool wins and I'm the only pathetic bastard left working here.
ROFL
Me too.
Play the same numbers every time and only if it exceeds 100 with no PP.
I once hit 3 times in the same week, same numbers on PB & ML. What are those odds?
Modest enough to collect where purchased, but ahead regardless.
;)
If I win I''m giving Hitlary 20% to go away.
Give her 40% but demand she advocate for a gold standard.
"If I win I''m giving Hitlary 20% to go away. "
I'd pay her 60% to make sure she got into office, then I'd have her suck me off on the front steps of the whore house every morning. But thats just me. Ron Jeremy eat your heart out.
"...then I'd have her suck me off on the front steps of the whore house every morning."
I'd have trouble keeping it up with that mouth coming toward me...ewwwwwww
I think the schadenfreude would keep me up. And in the picture taken I would not be.
Screw that, hire someone to 'make her go away'. Much cheaper.
I bet a progressive wins and doesn't fucking share.
I could fuck until my dick fell off and actually buy a new dick from someone.
hide the money ya'll, there's poor people around ... with your broke ass.
Classic.
Americans are fucking idiots. Trust me, I know. I live here.
I've had to deal with it all my life. Teachers spouting bullshit, friends owing me money, parents telling me they stopped the war in Vietnam and then bought into the system afterwards. All liars, all greedy, all taking whatever they can get with their grubby little hands.
That's why I started the meme to "Buy Silver" on Zero Hedge 6 years ago. When it collapses I hope the smart people - which is about 1 in 100,000 - have even at least enough real money to get through the collapse. I truly believe the meek shall inherit the wealth of the world in part because it is those who understand the system for what it is that buy silver. This while the Fed et al hold the price of silver down while using the MSM to scream silver is a worthless commoditiy. This while stocks have gone higher and higher.
It may be a fucked up world but reality is a truism. There exists a truth beyond the power of men. Call it god, or justice, or karma, what have you, but it exists, and we shall be free from this shit hole of a system one day.
So keep stacking, if it is for you, your children, or your grand children. Keep stacking.
I've only been here for 5 yrs but it seem's to me someone else started the buy silver (crash jpm) meme here
...And then there was that terrible TERRIBLE boating accident...
I've had a few avatars by now.
So 9 potential promises of wealth lotto tickets or 1 real ounce of Silver (ASE)...upon extrapolation and examination of the potential results, if purchasing less than all the combinations (a physical impossibility) you can still lose 100%. Buying Silver nets tangible real wealth than can not diminish in weight. What was the question again?