The fairest tax of them all is the lottery. It is voluntary, it is not levied; you are not forced to buy a ticket. It is an adult choice.
Recently the Powerball lottery changed the game by adding ten numbers. The odds of winning rose from one chance in 175,223,510 to one in 292,201,338. Let’s put that in perspective.
The government population clock shows the current US population just under 322 million. 72.7% are old enough to buy a lottery ticket. If every adult in the country bought one lottery ticket with a different number, 20% of the lottery numbers would remain unsold!
Winning the lottery is not how to accumulate wealth and provide for retirement. Winning may be a dream; it is fantasy – for entertainment purposes only!
I abhor politicians who refer to “winning life’s lottery” as the excuse to confiscate our hard earned money and redistribute it in the name of “fairness.” Nothing fair about it! Being rich or poor is not a game of chance; but rather a result of life choices we make. Ultra wealthy people can go bankrupt, and those raised in total poverty can become ultra wealthy.
Portraying the poor as “victims” and the wealthy as “lucky” does nothing but help power hungry politicians get elected. Politicians’ only concern about the poor and wealthy is what the poor and wealthy can do for them. Nothing new here. The ruling class has been this way for thousands of years.
Controlling our own destiny
During our working career, we are exchanging our time and skills for money. When we retire, we do the opposite. Hopefully, we have accumulated a nice nest egg so we can enjoy retirement as we exchange money for time.
The choices we make through our working career are what impact our ability to accumulate wealth. The wealthy people I know did not accumulate their wealth working 40 hours per week. Some expanded their education and improved their earning power. Others bought rental property or had side businesses that allowed them to compound their wealth. They did not leave their economic future to chance; they know better.
The challenges continue to grow
When the government instituted the zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) the game changed. Just like Powerball, the government changed the rules and made things tougher. In the past, we could add to our accumulated wealth (and time bank) by investing in safe bonds and certificates of deposit; earning a good rate of interest. Not anymore, the government rigged the game to make banks the winners and seniors and savers the losers.
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