If I Won a Million in a Lottery

If I won a million dollars in a lottery, after taxes and fees, then most would have to be put away for the future. I would try to preserve most of it in bond funds, so that I could enjoy a decent income every year and no longer have to work for a living. That is not to say, I would quit my job. I probably would keep working, because let's face it, a million bucks ain't what it used to be. I happen to love my job and the people I work with, anyway.

I'd put, say, $600,000 into savings, so that a modest 4% annual return would result in $24,000 a year. Nice to get 24 grand for doing nothing, eh? Stock funds are all well and good, but why risk it if you don't have to?

The other $350,000, I'd spend on furnishing a fabulous house, not a mansion, mind you--but I could afford a nice 3,000 square foot brick home in a hilly area, and surround it with a high fence for security, in case the bottom drops out and the world goes crazy. One never knows. I wouldn't want to live too far out in the sticks, but nearby to my favorite amenities: the police, fire department, and hospital. I like police, I like firemen, and I like doctors. Those are really the necessary professions in a society.

I'd tithe 5%, or $50,000, to worthy individuals who need a bit of help, friends and relatives that need a new car, say. I'd prefer direct contributions to individuals rather than giving to big organizations, because organizations can be like a black hole, and one never knows where the money goes.

What's interesting to me about the lottery is treating it as an experiment into the art of divination. If it were possible to divine a future event, such as a lottery drawing, then that has certain implications, the first being that the future is either predestined and knowable by some beings or else maleable by them in some way. An entity would need to be either powerful or prescient to predict a winning lottery number. Treating a lottery purchase as an experiment also has the advantage of limiting exposure. Of course, the mathematical odds against winning a lottery are so great, that a lottery is an extremely poor, even stupid investment. The only way it can be considered, in my view, is as a divination experiment, and for that purpose, only one ticket is required, not many. If a single purchase fails to win, then it follows that the experiment failed, end of story.

Science is Cool

Science is cool, as demonstrated in this recent article about diamonds raining down from the sky. I think that in the U.S., more needs to be spoken about science, and scientists should be on T.V. giving their educated opinions. We need to hear a lot less from the politicians and their hangers-on, because those types don't know anything, whether it be the economy, the climate, or even military endeavors. To know nothing, and to think one is wise, is dangerous. What we don't need is FOX TV. Instead, we need FACT TV. What is really going on in the world, and why? What are the reasons for it? A really good scientist is a cautious one, reluctant to draw conclusions based upon limited data, and always considering myriad possibilities, so long as they remain possible and supported by evidence.

Illustrative Samsung Corruption Case

South Korea seems a decent and respectable, if conservative and right-wing, country, and their decency is reflected today in the fact that a really rich man is facing actual jail time for corruption. He had a team of 28 lawyers working for him--imagine that. I'd be lucky to have one, juggling my case with a dozen others, probably boozed up and disinterested, at that. I find this case remarkable, because a rich man might actually go to jail, and illustrative, because the sentence seems light at five years.

A poor man may steal something, or deal drugs, or both, and get twenty years, sent to a hard prison, where who knows what will happen to him, and who cares? A rich man may steal millions, and get no jail time at all, or if he does get some, it's going to be a light sentence at one of the easier jails, where at any rate he will get preferential treatment.

That's the main problem with justice in our world. It's not new. Always has been, and still is. It's the left-wingers that want to change this scenario and make justice truly blind. In other matters, such as love, ordinary life, and medicine, the rich may have all the advantages, but in matters of justice, to which human beings attach a spiritual significance, they should be equal to the poorest of the poor. Now, the right-wingers would not agree with that. They would say, to be rich is to be handed a blank check. Until the bank account is empty, the check can cover anything, including any sin. Money is equated with piety. To me, that is blasphemy. But there are even "Prosperity Gospel" Christians who believe money means Grace.

At any rate, I can't imagine such a sentence being handed down in an American courtroom. The rich here get off. No matter what the crime is, they get off, except if the crime is against other rich people. If there are rich victims, you know, rich people matter, so an exception is made, as in the case of Maddoff, who sinned against his own kind.

Even O.J. Simpson got off a murder charge, because he was rich. Color of skin did not matter one iota. I don't think black Americans understood that race was not a factor in that case. They rooted for O.J. and seemed elated when he got off. I recall black coworkers cheering as if they had won something. For my part, I was not surprised. He was rich, he would get off. A poor black man would be on death row right now. Not everything is about race. Money is far more important.

Now, if most blacks were rich, then the shoe would be on the other foot. There are plenty of poor whites, and ironically, they seem to be the ones marching in these white nationalist protests. They lack all class consciousness. They fail to understand, they are viewed under the same lens as the poor blacks. All are dispensable. Racism is opposed because it disrupts productivity and profits. Most barriers in society are generated not by race, but by class. It is not the blacks that are out to get whites. That has always seemed a ludicrous proposition to me. Why some whites want to single out a minority race as a scapegoat for all their problems just seems like blind animal stupidity, like a dog biting its tail because a flea bit its behind.