America’s dangerous powerball economy
But hitting the jackpot generally leads to unhappiness. A famous 1978 study of major lottery winners in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology showed that while the winners experienced an immediate happiness boost right after winning, it didn’t last. …
Does this suggest that money makes us unhappy? Not at all. There is a huge amount of research showing that money, when earned, has a generally positive association with happiness. The problem is when it is unearned, when raw purchasing power is untethered from hard work and merit. …
Entrepreneurs of all types rate their well-being higher than do members of all other professional groups in America, according to years of polling by the Gallup organization. And it’s not because of the money. The employment website CareerBuilder.com reported in 2011 that small business owners made 19% less per year than government managers. …
All this data relates to our policy debates because every year, fewer and fewer people earn their way in America without a government subsidy.
Blowback
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anyone who is unhappy after winning the powerball needs their freaking head examined.
unseen on December 20, 2012 at 11:24 AM
I call Powerball winners government approved millionaires. Frankly we would be better off if we did not have these lotteries. All it has done is to add another layer of government workers on top of the ones we have and make people Santa Claus is just one Powerball ticket away.
SC.Charlie on December 20, 2012 at 11:39 AM
Isn’t that what the Obama Supporters were voting for?
Reaming the rich so they can cash in on the spoils?
Galt2009 on December 20, 2012 at 11:40 AM
Maybe, but not having to worry about a roof over your head, food on the table, or working a job you hate, is nothing to sneeze at. Screwed up people will continue to be screwed up – money or not.
Blake on December 20, 2012 at 11:44 AM
I think I could learn to live with it though I’d have the phone disconnected and disappear to Switzerland or Tahiti for a while.
SC Charlie is right, of course. Lotteries are pretty much a tax on the poor and desperate who think they can double their odds by buying two tickets.
Then there’s the casino rackets which have brought organized crime and lots of vice to sleepy towns under the guise of Indian reparations.
… and then there’s the casino rackets and lottery rackets such as New Orleans where the lottery was supposed to be the latest scam miracle to salvage the publik skools (same as before) and where a historic building gets torn down to make way for the casino hookers to promenade whilst the shady Landrieu family (D- Harrahs) tries to build their own Tammany Hall from the spoils.
viking01 on December 20, 2012 at 11:49 AM
A guy I with whom I went to church years ago worked for a company that bought up lottery winnings (and lawsuit windfalls and such). It turns out that most people have trouble with “found money” and vastly overspend their new wealth. His company would offer X cents on the dollar in a lump sum in return for becoming the receiver of future funds. It was evidently a very good business model.
GWB on December 20, 2012 at 12:35 PM
The main reason they become unhappy is they spend all the money too quickly, then find themselves broke and jobless. Kind of like a lot of pro athletes later in life. The smart ones plan for the future, but they are a minority.
Phil-351 on December 20, 2012 at 12:40 PM
What really happens is that the money was not earned, as such, family and friends think that you should give it up to them easily. If you give the money out like that, it runs out and you hate your family. If you refuse to give it out, the family and friends feel betrayed and you lose them to some extent. You cannot know if new friends are after your money, or are real friends. In the end, if you have money left over, you are less likely to have good family and friendships. If you are broke, you are less likely to have good family and friendships. It is a lose lose situation with relationships, unless you are very good at handling money and expectations.
astonerii on December 20, 2012 at 12:48 PM
I wonder if part of the difference is whether they decide to live like the idle rich or use the money to achieve something? If you take the winnings and finance a business that has always been a dream of yours and maybe a modest trip to somewhere you’ve always wanted to see, then I’m betting you’re much happier than the bubba who goes out and buys a bigger house and a couple of fancy cars and a huge boat then sits around wondering what to do with his life.
GWB on December 20, 2012 at 12:55 PM
Outside of guns, ammo, food, water, and a hidden shelter, what kinds of investments would you want to make today while Obama is focusing on job creators like a doomsday laser?
astonerii on December 20, 2012 at 2:08 PM
Point taken. Of course, I wouldn’t really count on continuing to get payments from that annuity, either.
GWB on December 20, 2012 at 2:55 PM