The Lotto Jackpot

     Last week the super Lotto grand prize reached 1.65 Billion dollars.  The states that offered the tickets were raking in the money faster than people could buy tickets.  The odds were published and repeated often: 1-292, 000,000+.  So, in essence, a ticket holder has a better chance of being elected president of the US than winning the lotto.  The net result:  1.65 billions of dollars removed from the economic market place.   This is the boon of state governments looking for an easy way to dupe the populous.  Offer a sneeky prize that  taps into the dreams and fantasies of those hapless, hopeless, boobs who think that this is money well spent: a chance at the stuff of dreams: a life w/o a care in the financial world.  No more worries about monthly rent, bills, education, healthcare. 
     Not too many years ago, the gambling of family funds was found to be detrimental to family life and individual responsibility.  However, politicians, in their infinite wisdom, decided replenishment of government funds trumped ethics and morality.  Now we have state-sponsored lotteries across the fruited plain.  Most recently, the basic lotto structure was altered to DECREASE the chances of winning, thereby creating a larger jackpot that would attract more players(read more losers) and more TAX in the state budgets.
     Wheeeeee: free money to fund salaries of already bloated government budgets(see Transparent California for actual numbers-good reading here).