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Yeah, tough one. When I was around twenty, a friend called the state lottery a tax on stupidity. At that time his comment seemed kind of amusing due its abrasiv

Yeah, tough one. When I was around twenty, a friend called the state lottery a tax on stupidity. At that time his comment seemed kind of amusing due its abrasiveness but I couldn't think of a serious retort that wouldn't come across as "we should protect people from themselves". I'm not sure I still have an answer for that. And I now view the subject to include other forms of gambling (where you statistically stand to lose), helmet laws.... Why require seat belts? I think you can defend laws, like speed limits, that serve to protect others from the would-be transgressor. Maybe you could make a case for the former if there are family involved that depend on the income of the person who might be fritting it away on Lotto tickets. I have a friend who "gambled" on the stock market with his disposable income (and that there is an obvious distinction between the former cases, FWIW) because, he explained, he was never going to cross that next threshold and become "rich" just from stashing his gains away. So, I don't know. I'm 40 years older now and still on the fence as to whether we should allow someone to wreck their life.

zztop44 2y ago
One response might be that stupidity isn’t something the government should be taxing.
JackFr 2y ago
> a friend called the state lottery a tax on stupidity. I'm pretty sure that virtually all of the stupid people buying a lottery tickets understand that lottery tickets have a negative expected value. But so does insurance, and yet people rationally buy that. Higher moments matter. When you have wealth you pay to reduce variance. When you lack wealth you pay to increase it.
cafp12 2y ago
[flagged]
dgfitz 2y ago
I buy a lottery ticket maybe once a year or so. In addition to being one of the least-expensive purchases one can make at an establishment that sells lottery tickets, I'm happy to pay $2 for the hours of entertainment I get from thinking about winning, knowing full well I'm not going to win.
- carleton 2y ago
  You can continue thinking about winning, even without wasting the money on the ticket. I also fantasize from time to time about winning but I’ve never bought a ticket before.
fwip 2y ago
We require seat belts because we've decided that our society is better when we have fewer people dying in car accidents. The disruption & trauma to their loved ones (and other driver), plus the loss of life, are perceived as worse than the inconvenience of wearing a seat belt. Similarly, we could decide that the personal freedom to become addicted to gambling is less important than the potential impact to that person or loved ones. All laws are about restricting freedom for the benefit of the larger society. There is also no individual that does not impact their society in some way - a harm to them is (often) also a harm to others.
nostromo 2y ago
There will always be tension between social safety nets and expansive views of freedom. If the government provides my healthcare, then it’s in their interest to make sure I don’t smoke and eat right. If the government provides financial assistance to the poor, then it’s in their interest to make sure it’s not gambled away or spent on drugs and alcohol. People in Europe seem fine with giving up a bit of freedom in exchange for more social programs. But in America there seems to be a desire to have it all.

zztop44 2y ago

One response might be that stupidity isn’t something the government should be taxing.

JackFr 2y ago

> a friend called the state lottery a tax on stupidity. I'm pretty sure that virtually all of the stupid people buying a lottery tickets understand that lottery tickets have a negative expected value. But so does insurance, and yet people rationally buy that. Higher moments matter. When you have wealth you pay to reduce variance. When you lack wealth you pay to increase it.

cafp12 2y ago

[flagged]

dgfitz 2y ago

I buy a lottery ticket maybe once a year or so. In addition to being one of the least-expensive purchases one can make at an establishment that sells lottery tickets, I'm happy to pay $2 for the hours of entertainment I get from thinking about winning, knowing full well I'm not going to win.

carleton 2y ago
You can continue thinking about winning, even without wasting the money on the ticket. I also fantasize from time to time about winning but I’ve never bought a ticket before.

fwip 2y ago

We require seat belts because we've decided that our society is better when we have fewer people dying in car accidents. The disruption & trauma to their loved ones (and other driver), plus the loss of life, are perceived as worse than the inconvenience of wearing a seat belt. Similarly, we could decide that the personal freedom to become addicted to gambling is less important than the potential impact to that person or loved ones. All laws are about restricting freedom for the benefit of the larger society. There is also no individual that does not impact their society in some way - a harm to them is (often) also a harm to others.

nostromo 2y ago

There will always be tension between social safety nets and expansive views of freedom. If the government provides my healthcare, then it’s in their interest to make sure I don’t smoke and eat right. If the government provides financial assistance to the poor, then it’s in their interest to make sure it’s not gambled away or spent on drugs and alcohol. People in Europe seem fine with giving up a bit of freedom in exchange for more social programs. But in America there seems to be a desire to have it all.