During the ultimate week of March, as being the 'Mega Millions' jackpot rose toward 640 million dollars, lottery mania reached temperature pitch. TV and radio personalities mentioned feeling almost compelled to purchase a ticket, the ones everywhere imagined loudly what you would do should they won a part of the jackpot.
There are some ironies regarding the lottery:
1) It is amongst the most regressive taxes we now have ' and thus a disproportionate quantity of poorer folks buy tickets, which account (naturally) for any higher amount of their income. Since regardless of how the politicians frame it in words ' the lottery is primarily for governmental support. Therefore, it is just a tax, and it's essentially the most regressive tax we have now.
2) Despite the inequity of the regressive tax, the lottery is probably the few arenas of life within which neither power nor wealth put lower income persons for a disadvantage. House Speaker Mike Madigan and Governor Pat Quinn might be one of the most powerful persons in Illinois, rich in salaries and huge banks too boot, but neither ones carries a greater opportunity to win the lottery compared to average street musician in Chicago. So the lottery is among the few truly 'level playing fields' there's in today's world.
3) Stories about persons whose life was thrown into turmoil, complication, difficulty, and unhappiness simply because they WON the lottery are simply too numerous in order to. On the opposite hand, stories about persons who personally and emotionally thrived after 'winning big' less complicated harder to discover. Despite that, the typical lottery player is convinced that in case he/she won the lottery, each of their problems will be solved.
The overdone hoopla relating to this most current Mega Millions jackpot called to mind one of many only true lottery 'winners' about whom I know: Alex Snelius. Alex and the now deceased wife, Ursula, were immigrants from Lithuania, as well as of the most popular White Sox fans ever. Twelve in the past, they purchased a lottery ticket and won a $64 million jackpot.
They didn't embark on a spending spree, or obtain a worldwide cruise (whilst they nothing you've seen prior had the resources to search together), or do just about anything selfishly or foolishly. Instead, they found strategies to help others ' family, friends, neighbors ' a number of whom (in retrospect) took advantage ones. One of the more visible things they did was begin sponsoring a $100 giveaway any time a Chicago White Sox player hits a house run. If you tune in to a White Sox broadcast, you'll hear Alex's name mentioned, this guide the $100 gift is within memory of Ursula, that will be the love of his life. In Alex's own words: 'From any time I met my partner, Sox, always Sox, she loved it much. The first time I seen her, I fell excited about her.'
It isn't a secret that the typical person within this country gives lower than 2% of private income to charity. When it comes to generosity, Alex is definitely an exception. Christine website O'Reilly may be the Senior Director of Community Relations for your White Sox. She offers this look at Alex: 'Alex is very funny. When I consult him on the phone, he tells: 'We got three home runs last week!' Then I let him know: 'But Alex, that's $300 (through your pocket)!' He replies [with enthusiastic sincerity] 'I don't care, I don't care!''
The financial meltdown because of the housing bubble had not been kind to Alex. He includes a volume of challenges ahead, such as undeniable fact that many people whom he helped have never kept promises built to him. Alex reported within a radio interview on 'Roe and Roeper' (March 30) which he would not, for his very own benefit, wish to win the lottery again. Instead, when he buys a ticket, he does it hoping and expectation he can win again ' and provides everything away!
Alex is probably the only true lottery 'winners' I know!