Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Huge Powerball Payout Inspires “Ingenious” Fiscal Idea
http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/rightwing220.html ^

Posted on 12/05/2012 12:39:50 PM PST by navysealdad

The nearly $600 million payout to the two winners of this week's latest Powerball lottery drawing has inspired what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called “an ingenious and painless way out of the government's chronic debt crisis.”

Geithner's “ingenious and painless” plan calls for the Federal Reserve to buy a minimum of $30 billion in Powerball tickets every week. “Over the course of a year this would generate a minimum of $1.5 trillion in lottery winnings,” Geithner calculated. “As the holder of more than 99% of each week's outstanding tickets, the federal government would almost certainly win each week's jackpot. The cumulative weekly winnings would totally cover the annual budget deficits.”

The Secretary congratulated himself for “pioneering a truly innovative solution to government finance. It would completely bypass any need for

(Excerpt) Read more at angelfire.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Humor
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last
To: Navy Patriot

....and by the way they did attribute this to John at the bottom of their post.


21 posted on 12/05/2012 1:51:56 PM PST by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will, they ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: rockinqsranch
True, that, I was lookin’ for it above the copy, use too FR.
22 posted on 12/05/2012 2:01:09 PM PST by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it, and the Constitution and law mean what WE say.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: steerpike100

Not only that, but, PowerBall is drawn 2 times a week. If you started buying tickets, say, immediately after the last drawing, there would not be enough TIME to purchase 15 billion tickets. Further, there is no guarantee that you would win UNLESS you submitted 175 million tickets, covering every combination possibility. And, there probably isn’t even enough TIME to do THAT...


23 posted on 12/05/2012 2:15:58 PM PST by Paisan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Paisan

Not only that, but, PowerBall is drawn 2 times a week. If you started buying tickets, say, immediately after the last drawing, there would not be enough TIME to purchase 15 billion tickets
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Back when the ‘lottos’ were basically 1 state per (I mean no multi state) some ‘genius’ (as is normal in a free society) figured he could hire enough people to buy the required # of tickets to cover every #...at that time there was only 1 drawing a week and multiple jackpots were very common.
‘They’ tweaked the system, went to 2 draws per week and it was virtually impossible to run all the numbers.
Since it was tweaked, the dual winners are rare where it was once common.


24 posted on 12/05/2012 2:25:12 PM PST by xrmusn (6/98 "It is virtually impossible to clean the pond as long as the pigs are still crapping in it")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: navysealdad

I had to double check this story wasn’t originally {reported} by the Onion.


25 posted on 12/05/2012 2:25:11 PM PST by exPBRrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: steerpike100

You’re probably right but it’s clear to me that a lot of people don’t start playing until the jackpots are large (myself included).

In the most recent run, the jackpot didn’t grow faster than the $10M minimum until the 9th rollover. In the 15th rollover, the jackpot went from $325M to $587.5M.

So either the house wins (by playing its own game), or the jackpot rolls over, thereby attracting more players....I guess I’d try it on a smaller scale than $30B per round. Also I am conflating the federal government with the state governments.

What I’ve wondered....instead of putting current bets into the current jackpot, why not put current bets into the next jackpot? (As I understand it, they do some of that but not much).

I figure around 285M played the last round of the last big jackpot, and 30M played the Power Play. That put $332M into the prize pool.

About $132M was paid out on non-jackpot prizes.

So wouldn’t it be better to start the next jackpot at $200M rather than $40M? The $200M jackpot would already be funded, unlike the $40M jackpot.

Now yes, fewer people would play if the jackpot had been advertised at $325M the whole way rather than starting at $425M and then winding up at $550M, with the eventual jackpot being $587.5M.

It looks like around 14M played the 1st round of the next jackpot, with an additional 3.5M playing the Power Play, with $9.5M paid out in nonjackpot prizes.


26 posted on 12/05/2012 4:42:20 PM PST by scrabblehack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: rockinqsranch
....and by the way they did attribute this to John at the bottom of their post.

Not until after I reloaded the page. (IOW, it wasn't there when we posted it wasn't there, for whatever reason). That has been cleared up, now.

27 posted on 12/05/2012 6:14:58 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: navysealdad

Frankly, I don’t see why the lottery can’t just rip off everyone and declare no winner and offer no excuse for not having a drawing. Take the money and pay down 0bama’s debt... for 4 minutes.


28 posted on 12/05/2012 6:28:39 PM PST by Rodamala
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson