4 ms·

> The lottery is a voluntary highly regressive tax. Poor people disproportionately play the lottery and are therefore disproportionately funding the lottery tax

> The lottery is a voluntary highly regressive tax. Poor people disproportionately play the lottery and are therefore disproportionately funding the lottery taxes. If you are a regular non-connected, non-Ivy League folk, your odds of becoming a billionaire via day zero equity appreciation are roughly the same as becoming one via playing the lottery. And yet this website is full of people deluding themselves that they can become one, and also cheering on other people posting their billion dollar delusions. It's always a real pain to watch the contempt that people who are doing well for themselves have for people who live in inner cities, while engaging in the same behavior, only from a relatively higher vantage point. It's not even necessary to go all the way up to 1 billion, 100m net worth odds for a regular non-connected, non-Ivy League folk are also kinda the same playing lottery vs. day zero equity appreciation. The crossover is somewhere below 100 million dollars, maybe even less than 10 million dollars or there about

listenallyall 4y ago
This comment is sarcasm, right? Perhaps becoming a billionaire is out of reach, but growing your portfolio by 5-20% annually is highly likely, as opposed to -100% growth via lottery tickets.
- Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago
  People aren't attacking the delusional and temporarily embarassed billionaires and telling them to focus on a more realistic FIRE. They are pouring gas on their delusions, big difference compared to the reaction to people who play the lottery.
- antisthenes 4y ago
  > This comment is sarcasm, right? Perhaps becoming a billionaire is out of reach, but growing your portfolio by 5-20% annually is highly likely This is incredibly out of touch. The GP comment was talking about the kind of people who don't even own stocks and probably can't afford to buy even a single share, because it would eat into their budget much more than a $2-5 lottery ticket. Also, lottery ticket EV isn't -100%, it's anywhere between -50% and -80%. The stock portfolio growth numbers are also wrong for long-term, but we'll let that one slide.
  - josephcsible 4y ago
    > The GP comment was talking about the kind of people who don't even own stocks and probably can't afford to buy even a single share, because it would eat into their budget much more than a $2-5 lottery ticket. People who buy a $5 lottery ticket every day could absolutely afford to buy stocks if they'd stop doing that. > Also, lottery ticket EV isn't -100%, it's anywhere between -50% and -80%. Even assuming your optimistic number, it's idiotic to "invest" anything into something with an expected return of -50%.
  - listenallyall 4y ago
    No, the GP comment specifically said regular non-connected, non-Ivy League folk. That's an enormously wide net. In any case, $5 lottery ticket x 2 draws/week x 52 weeks/year = $520. You can buy some stock with that. And plenty of people (unfortunately, mostly poor people) spend a lot more than $5 per draw.
  - koheripbal 4y ago
    I overheard my Costco bagger talking about the stocks he bought. Literally anyone can buy stocks these days.
    - jacquesm 4y ago
      That's a sure sign of a stock market bubble.

listenallyall 4y ago

This comment is sarcasm, right? Perhaps becoming a billionaire is out of reach, but growing your portfolio by 5-20% annually is highly likely, as opposed to -100% growth via lottery tickets.

Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago
People aren't attacking the delusional and temporarily embarassed billionaires and telling them to focus on a more realistic FIRE. They are pouring gas on their delusions, big difference compared to the reaction to people who play the lottery.
antisthenes 4y ago
> This comment is sarcasm, right? Perhaps becoming a billionaire is out of reach, but growing your portfolio by 5-20% annually is highly likely This is incredibly out of touch. The GP comment was talking about the kind of people who don't even own stocks and probably can't afford to buy even a single share, because it would eat into their budget much more than a $2-5 lottery ticket. Also, lottery ticket EV isn't -100%, it's anywhere between -50% and -80%. The stock portfolio growth numbers are also wrong for long-term, but we'll let that one slide.
- josephcsible 4y ago
  > The GP comment was talking about the kind of people who don't even own stocks and probably can't afford to buy even a single share, because it would eat into their budget much more than a $2-5 lottery ticket. People who buy a $5 lottery ticket every day could absolutely afford to buy stocks if they'd stop doing that. > Also, lottery ticket EV isn't -100%, it's anywhere between -50% and -80%. Even assuming your optimistic number, it's idiotic to "invest" anything into something with an expected return of -50%.
- listenallyall 4y ago
  No, the GP comment specifically said regular non-connected, non-Ivy League folk. That's an enormously wide net. In any case, $5 lottery ticket x 2 draws/week x 52 weeks/year = $520. You can buy some stock with that. And plenty of people (unfortunately, mostly poor people) spend a lot more than $5 per draw.
- koheripbal 4y ago
  I overheard my Costco bagger talking about the stocks he bought. Literally anyone can buy stocks these days.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    That's a sure sign of a stock market bubble.