Reminds me of Fred Flintstone and his get-rich-quick schemes

Voluntary taxes are my favorite.

DETROITG?

Ok how long before this becomes a reality in Detroit (possibly the entire state)?

As long as they sell tickets in Ann Arbor and Grosse pointe, they'll do fine.

If you went to school in Detroit you would understand why a lottery is your only hope

Money? I thought Detroit had reverted into a primitive wilderness peopled by hunter-gatherers. I think Rae Dawn Chong is their leader.

rmify: If you went to school in Detroit you would understand why a lottery is your only hope

The lottery may be their only hope, but who says they'll be educated enough to understand that? And if they were, would they therefore be functional enough to have another hope?

Whiskey Dickens: DETROITG?

WINN4R

palelizard: rmify: If you went to school in Detroit you would understand why a lottery is your only hope

The lottery may be their only hope, but who says they'll be educated enough to understand that? And if they were, would they therefore be functional enough to have another hope?

fair enough I think the actual citizens there are mostly hopeless

Whiskey Dickens: DETROITG?

Thanks for the coffee spit take.

rubi_con_man: As long as they sell tickets in Ann Arbor and Grosse pointe, they'll do fine.

As someone who grew up in Grosse Pointe I'm getting a kick etc.

If Detroit was smart, it would have borrowed $7.7 Trillion from the government for free and then loaned it back to the government at a 3% profit. Seems like a pretty good business model to me.

Hey, we're pretty smart and we play the lottery.

OK, hypothetically:

Let's say the city council passes this legislation. The private company that runs the lottery funnels money into the campaigns of the city council members who passed the legislation. Those city council members use that political capital to lobby the state for more transportation funding, which DOES help the city. Did they do the right thing? How else are councilmembers who represent poor constituencies supposed to raise the money they need for their political survival except by occasionally getting into bed with sleazy businesses that also happen to have a lot of money.

It's really not a bad idea.

Financially challenged people have always played the lottery.

The Harlem ghettos hosted an entire organized crime syndicate in the 20s and 30s that was built by simply running numbers. People would pay pennies, nickels and dimes while the lottery host made a fortune.

The lottery was being played by people as far back as this country's history can recall. At one point the government found out what was going on, illegalized it and made one of their own.

It's a money maker.

superdude72:
Let's say the city council passes this legislation.

This could happen, although I they'll try to restrict prize-winning to black residents only, if they can find a way to do it that doesn't bring the feds down on them again.

The private company that runs the lottery funnels money into the campaigns of the city council members who passed the legislation.

Them and their families, yes. That's how the Detroit political system works.

Those city council members use that political capital to lobby the state for more transportation funding, which DOES help the city.

Here's where you get off track. There's no path beyond "create a stream of income for city officials and their associates". Anything else would resemble work, and would risk wasting assistance on people who don't directly benefit Council members.

Well those caddys the govt buys wont pay for themselves.

So the winner of the lottery either gets killed or a one way ticket out?

On the bright side you could hit the jackpot, fourteen dollars, and buy a house.

jimmyjackfunk: [iancul.com image 406x377]

Ok how long before this becomes a reality in Detroit (possibly the entire state)?

Link (new window)

Try 5 years ago. No cyborgs yet, just food , beverages, and cologne. But hey, every company has to start somewhere.

kronicfeld: I hear there are entire cities in Nevada and New Jersey designed around this same principle. Thank you for doing the public service of advising all these people just how stupid they are.

There's a big different between something that attracts revenue from non-residents and something that extracts revenue from your residents.

All Detroit has to do is tax its suburbs. Goddamn there's money there.

RanDomino: All Detroit has to do is tax its suburbs. Goddamn there's money there.

They do. One traditional way has been to overcharge for water, with those profits funneled directly into the DWP admin's pockets. Oddly enough, the system is now falling apart & in need of state-level rescue... again.

The problem isn't a lack of funding, it's that a huge chunk of the money they do bring in, is quickly stolen by elected officials and their appointees.

Isn't the first person who wins going to take their millions of dollars, gathered from within the city of Detroit, and... leave Detroit?

/cunning plan