Mega Millions: The Lottery of Loss for Those Dying of Hunger
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Monday, December 3rd, 2012. Filed under: Economic Manipulations human interest
TheMindfulWord
by Jane Olivier
Don’t do it! That lottery ticket—that “Mega Millions” one … or the
“Powerball” … or in fact, any other. Just don’t do it! Put your money
back in your pocket. In the U.S., the chances of you winning the lottery
are 1 in 146.1 million. Did you get that? One in 146.1 million.
And in the meantime, you lose. And even in winning, you lose. And you’re being about as “in the moment” as a shark in a fishbowl.
I have a friend in the U.S. who has to survive on his monthly social
security payment of $1,243 per month. He beggars himself by staying in a
place he cannot afford to upkeep, in a tiny village/town far from
anything and needs to drive everywhere to buy whatever he needs at great
fuel cost. He has applied for all sorts of grants from various levels
of government, yet at least twice a week he does the 15-mile round trip
to buy his lottery tickets in the hope of one day winning something.
While I was visiting, he would ask me to go and buy them. I did a few
times, then refused, trying to speak sense into his supposedly
intelligent noggin’, trying to show him that the $50 or more he was
spending on lottery tickets could be used on food. But I couldn’t get
through his “if you don’t buy you can’t win” thought processing the fact
that by not buying he was already winning.
Why did I refuse to do him this favour on my way back or to
somewhere? I was perpetuating a whole bunch of things I’m totally
opposed to and, as such, not living my truth. Among them:
How was I perpetuating these? By buying these tickets for him, I was
assisting him in his grant requirements, thus approving and applauding
his actions.
And I don’t. Not in any way or means.
The number of lotteries worldwide is staggering, and the amount of
money thrown at them even more so, in the hope of hitting the jackpot.
And who do we think IS the jackpot? Correct, we are.
Listen carefully: WE ARE THE JACKPOT!
Not strictly true. YOU are, I will have nothing to do with this.
Allow me the opportunity to smash your delusions.
Of every $1 you spend, about $0.50 goes to prizes and $0.50 goes to
the euphemistic “overheads” (administration and advertising) and to the
state governments. So, of the leftover half of the money you have thrown
away, 19.71 cents goes to pay off fixed prize winners—the little guys,
the $2-$whatever—and the rest—about $0.30—goes into the jackpot. The
more people bet and the more drawings that go by with no winner, the
larger the jackpot gets. The only people getting paid are the government
and the administrators.
And on the very, very minuscule chance that you may win something
larger than the teller where you bought your ticket can supply, here is
the palaver to go through to finally get your winnings. For prizes over
$600, winners must fill out a claim form and present two forms of valid
identification. Whoever is sending the payout, must be able to verify
the winner’s identity and Social Security Number (SSN), therefore; at
least one form of identification must specifically identify the SSN. The
preferred forms of acceptable identification are a valid driver’s
license with current address and a Social Security card.
Then there’s the fact that ALL lottery winnings are subject to
Federal taxes; many smaller jurisdictions also levy taxes. The IRS
requires at least 25 per cent of any gambling wins in excess of $5,000
be withheld. And here again, the net for a major winner is misleading.
You win big? You pay big… to the government, as you will now find
yourself in a much higher tax bracket than the withheld 25 per cent.
In order for a jackpot to reach $540,000,000, you out there… and you know who you are… have paid in $1.8 billion. That’s with a “B”! And we’re only talking one jackpot here—the Mega Millions which stood at $540 million in March this year.
The bait of easy money was thrown into extremely fertile waters and
they netted YOU, and you remain caught in this web that you’re
constantly spinning. You and hundreds of millions of others have gone
without so you could win, now you have, so “thank you and pay us to hold
you prisoner while we shake out your pockets again and again and
again.”
And here is an uncomfortable statistic: Today almost 22,000 (when I
last looked)—and a whopping 10.5 million so far this year—died of
starvation. Not the silly “I’m dying of hunger” phrase dying,
haphazardly thrown out when we’re an hour over our perceived feeding
time. The real
dead-never-to-walk-this-planet-never-to-touch-the-grass-with-bare-feet-or-smell-the-sea-breeze
kind of dying.
$1.8 billion would have fed them for 171 years!
That is what your “hope” could have done. It could have created joy,
relieved anguish and suffering, quietened a scream, whispered “thank
you,” dried many tears. It could have put a smile on a whole lot of
faces that will never smile again.
But it didn’t.
Look at the image below and let it burn a hole through your cornea
into your soul. And the next time you go falsely “hoping,” remember this
image and remember these words.
You cannot say “I didn’t know.”
–TheMindfulWord.org
+++
ZenGardner.com
Thanks to: http://www.zengardner.com
Like!
8
Monday, December 3rd, 2012. Filed under: Economic Manipulations human interest
TheMindfulWord
by Jane Olivier
Don’t do it! That lottery ticket—that “Mega Millions” one … or the
“Powerball” … or in fact, any other. Just don’t do it! Put your money
back in your pocket. In the U.S., the chances of you winning the lottery
are 1 in 146.1 million. Did you get that? One in 146.1 million.
And in the meantime, you lose. And even in winning, you lose. And you’re being about as “in the moment” as a shark in a fishbowl.
I have a friend in the U.S. who has to survive on his monthly social
security payment of $1,243 per month. He beggars himself by staying in a
place he cannot afford to upkeep, in a tiny village/town far from
anything and needs to drive everywhere to buy whatever he needs at great
fuel cost. He has applied for all sorts of grants from various levels
of government, yet at least twice a week he does the 15-mile round trip
to buy his lottery tickets in the hope of one day winning something.
While I was visiting, he would ask me to go and buy them. I did a few
times, then refused, trying to speak sense into his supposedly
intelligent noggin’, trying to show him that the $50 or more he was
spending on lottery tickets could be used on food. But I couldn’t get
through his “if you don’t buy you can’t win” thought processing the fact
that by not buying he was already winning.
Why did I refuse to do him this favour on my way back or to
somewhere? I was perpetuating a whole bunch of things I’m totally
opposed to and, as such, not living my truth. Among them:
- Hope is a waste of energy.
- I live in the now and this precludes hope of any kind.
- I will not take hand-outs from a government—it makes you dependent.
- We pay enough to governments in taxes on food, fuel, clothing—all
sorts of things. Money that is spent without our permission on things
of which we do not approve—war, oil drilling, nuclear arms, salaries for
incompetent leaders, bribery and corruption on a scale more massive
than we could ever comprehend. Oh yes… and on insurance! - I will not allow my freedom to be compromised.
- I will not throw money away when there are millions dying of starvation. Millions!
How was I perpetuating these? By buying these tickets for him, I was
assisting him in his grant requirements, thus approving and applauding
his actions.
And I don’t. Not in any way or means.
The number of lotteries worldwide is staggering, and the amount of
money thrown at them even more so, in the hope of hitting the jackpot.
And who do we think IS the jackpot? Correct, we are.
Listen carefully: WE ARE THE JACKPOT!
Not strictly true. YOU are, I will have nothing to do with this.
Allow me the opportunity to smash your delusions.
Of every $1 you spend, about $0.50 goes to prizes and $0.50 goes to
the euphemistic “overheads” (administration and advertising) and to the
state governments. So, of the leftover half of the money you have thrown
away, 19.71 cents goes to pay off fixed prize winners—the little guys,
the $2-$whatever—and the rest—about $0.30—goes into the jackpot. The
more people bet and the more drawings that go by with no winner, the
larger the jackpot gets. The only people getting paid are the government
and the administrators.
And on the very, very minuscule chance that you may win something
larger than the teller where you bought your ticket can supply, here is
the palaver to go through to finally get your winnings. For prizes over
$600, winners must fill out a claim form and present two forms of valid
identification. Whoever is sending the payout, must be able to verify
the winner’s identity and Social Security Number (SSN), therefore; at
least one form of identification must specifically identify the SSN. The
preferred forms of acceptable identification are a valid driver’s
license with current address and a Social Security card.
Then there’s the fact that ALL lottery winnings are subject to
Federal taxes; many smaller jurisdictions also levy taxes. The IRS
requires at least 25 per cent of any gambling wins in excess of $5,000
be withheld. And here again, the net for a major winner is misleading.
You win big? You pay big… to the government, as you will now find
yourself in a much higher tax bracket than the withheld 25 per cent.
In order for a jackpot to reach $540,000,000, you out there… and you know who you are… have paid in $1.8 billion. That’s with a “B”! And we’re only talking one jackpot here—the Mega Millions which stood at $540 million in March this year.
The bait of easy money was thrown into extremely fertile waters and
they netted YOU, and you remain caught in this web that you’re
constantly spinning. You and hundreds of millions of others have gone
without so you could win, now you have, so “thank you and pay us to hold
you prisoner while we shake out your pockets again and again and
again.”
And here is an uncomfortable statistic: Today almost 22,000 (when I
last looked)—and a whopping 10.5 million so far this year—died of
starvation. Not the silly “I’m dying of hunger” phrase dying,
haphazardly thrown out when we’re an hour over our perceived feeding
time. The real
dead-never-to-walk-this-planet-never-to-touch-the-grass-with-bare-feet-or-smell-the-sea-breeze
kind of dying.
$1.8 billion would have fed them for 171 years!
That is what your “hope” could have done. It could have created joy,
relieved anguish and suffering, quietened a scream, whispered “thank
you,” dried many tears. It could have put a smile on a whole lot of
faces that will never smile again.
But it didn’t.
Look at the image below and let it burn a hole through your cornea
into your soul. And the next time you go falsely “hoping,” remember this
image and remember these words.
You cannot say “I didn’t know.”
–TheMindfulWord.org
+++
ZenGardner.com
Thanks to: http://www.zengardner.com