The eight winners of the Powerball lottery gather in Lincoln, Neb. Clockwise from top left: Robert Stewart(30), Alain Maboussou(26), Dung Tran(34), Eric Zornes(40), David Gehle(53), Michael Terpstra(47), Quang Dao(56) and Chasity Rutjens(29).
Posted on 02/22/2006 12:04:46 PM PST by TheClintons-STILLAnti-American
LINCOLN, Neb. - Eight workers at a Nebraska meat processing plant claimed the record $365 million Powerball jackpot Wednesday, giving each about $15.5 million after taxes.
The seven men and one woman all work at a ConAgra ham processing plant near the U-Stop convenience store where they bought the winning ticket last week for Saturday’s lottery.
They ended up with the biggest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Good! 8 new Republicans!
That's ironic, if I won 365 million dollars, the first thing I'd do would be to try to get a job in a meat processing plant.
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
Pretty diverse group. About the only demographic not represented were blacks. Quick somebody point this out to shakedown Jackson.
LOL!
Too bad, so sad . . . back to work in the morning! Lots of sore shins from people kicking themselves.
What a scam that taxes can steal that much of it.
Sometimes, it does pay to play the lottery.
That's $124,000,000 based on a lump sum present value payout and less taxes. Assuming taxes takes 40%, that would mean they got $124,000,000 out of about $220,000,000.
That seems like a huge hit for a present value payout.
PETA must love this. Bwa ha ha ha ha
It is not the taxes that is the scam, it is the present value calculation. See my post above.
Headline should read: "EX-Meat Workers Share $365 Million Jackpot"
Kinda. Lump sum payout was more like $177,500,000 rather than the $220,000,000 figure you quoted.
True--the only one that wins every time is the government. People spend after tax dollars to buy tickets, then when a portion of those dollars are paid out to the winner the government gets another share.
I don't have anything against lotteries per se, with the usual caveat that some people spend money they can't afford on them-- and for some it limits their motivation to work and create because they're holding out hope for a magic payday (kind of like the demotivation of socilaism in terms of the removal of proactive self-reliance),-- but I don't like the government being in the gambling business.
The help wanted sign just went out.
The eight winners of the Powerball lottery gather in Lincoln, Neb. Clockwise from top left: Robert Stewart(30), Alain Maboussou(26), Dung Tran(34), Eric Zornes(40), David Gehle(53), Michael Terpstra(47), Quang Dao(56) and Chasity Rutjens(29).
Now there'll be 8 new openings for jobs rich Americans won't take.
You hit the jackpot with that remark! LOL!
Gotta love it. The Scots, the French, the Vietnamese, the Chinese, the Germans, and the Dutch are all represented. Only in America!
I believe the article is incorrect:
15.5 each "after taxes", that should be after taxes and after present value calculation.
LOLOL.....sheesh.
I think the "present value calculation" was assumed, as the winners did take the lump sum of $177.5 mil.
$177.5 mil is roughly $22.18 mil each. A rough 30% tax leaves about $15.5 million per worker.
That true. But judging by this quote from one of the immigrants
"Alain Maboussou, a 26-year-old who fled his war-torn homeland in Central Africa, said he planned to earn a degree in accounting now.
“It’s too early for me to retire, but I did four days ago. I’m going to be working for myself now,” Maboussou said. He said of his three-month-old daughter, Katherine, “she’s going to be happy for the rest of her life.”
I think he may have bought into the "American Dream" a little too much.
Hopefully reality won't be too harsh on his little girl.
Just look at the guy in West Virginia who won big on Christmas day a couple of years ago--something like $113 million after taxes, IIRC. He's been arrested several times, his young granddaughter was found dead in an old van on the property of a boyfriend and his wife was quoted as saying she wish she'd torn the ticket up.
Money does not, as our culture tries to seduce us into believing, buy happiness.
But most all of us are eager to take a shot at trying. It does offer more options than poverty.
"...Pretty diverse group. About the only demographic not represented were blacks. Quick somebody point this out to shakedown Jackson...."
Or Bryant Gumball.
Thanks. That then serves to confirm my real point, that being the PV calculation is a huge hit, almost 50%. I am not sure what interest rate they calculate it at, but it seems to me they are cleaning up on this.
The lawsuit by the excluded workers will be filed by the week-end.
I believe you are correct. My understanding is that after both taxes and present-value payout, you end up with about a third of the stated amount. Take 365 million divide by 8. You get about 46 million per person. Divide that by 3, and you get roughly the 15.5 million.
The news story just isnt' complete probably because the "journalist" didn't understand present value and can't divide.
The lottery: a tax on foolish and greedy people. Few winners end up happy. I enjoy working for my money and investing in stocks and my house.
Ahh. OK. I musta missed that. Sorry. Yeah, the Lump Sum option can be seen as a huge hit. But keep in mind that the lottery commission does not actaully have the $365 million. They have the $177.5 million. If you took the 30-year option then they would take that $177.5 million and put into an annuity to pay your prize.
As a result, it comes to about the same, as you can take your lump sum and invest it with (usually) better results than the lottery commission gets.
It's still more than they had....;-)
In related news the Kit Kat strip club in Lincoln Nebraska reported it's best night ever.
So that's who the winners stole the ticket from!
Hello, Chastity?
I have dibs on the eviserating hose down table assistant
so much for the hot tub full of molten butter and dumptruck full of lobster tails
I thought there was one TOKEN black amongst them....like....in Southpark
I read not too long ago that approximately 28% of the money spent on tickets is reflected in the "jackpot".
The jackpot is always quoted as the 30 year annuity value--what would be paid out over the course of 30 years if someone took that option. The "cash" payout for Powerball had been slightly more the 50% of the annuity value until they fiddled with it this past summer. They lowered the odds of winning (from about 83 million to one to about 120 million to one, give or take a few million), because interest was waning and they wanted to stoke the fires of greed with huge jackpots. They at the same time changed the "cash" option to something less than 50% in order to increase the number and size of lesser payouts to try and increase interest.
The perennial winner, the government, takes their share, 30%, off the top and the winner gets the remaining 70%.
The odds are about like trying to reach your friend Joe long distance on the phone without even knowing his area code. You dial ten numbers and ask, "Joe, is that you?" You could spend 24 hours a day for the rest of your life and never reach "Joe" (at least not the right Joe).
It is just a matter of time before there is a jackpot of a half a billion dollars or more, despite the tens of millions of tickets sold for each drawing when the jackpot gets into the hundreds of millions.
Like the promoters like to say, "You have to play to win." Everyone with a ticket has an equal chance--how appealing in the age of egalitarianism!
The only time you hear about the person who blew their rent money to play is only news worthy when lightning strikes them. The greater number who lost are looked on as foolish dreamers.
READ MY LIPS.......NO NEW TAXES......does that answer your statement
Id love to hear the life story of these two...
Immigrants, working hard, supporting a family - and blammo
and they loaded up the truck and moved to Bever-lee
What would you do? take the lump sum or go for the 20 years?
I know the BEST answer because I am an accountant.
Please give me your insight......there is NO wrong answer (heck you are a multi-millionaire)
TRUE???
Ask the 8 winners who is the big winner....the last thing they are thinking about is the GOVERNMENT....maybe they will just pack up their bags and move to Guam
Chastity is looking pretty HOT.....IS SHE SINGLE.....I am getting a ticket on Southwest right now
Gotta love it. The Scots, the French, the Vietnamese, the Chinese, the Germans, and the Dutch are all represented. Only in America!
and.....don't forget the MUSLIM with the sunglasses
Just look at the guy in West Virginia who won big on Christmas day a couple of years ago--something like $113 million after taxes........
TWO WORDS...........W E S T V I R G I N I A
Not any more.
she looks very hawt with that 22.5 million check
I wonder if she is a NATURAL blonde??? I would like to find out...MUNCH...MUNCH
rich, blonde, and 29 yrs old!!! just what the dr ordered
the higher the amount of the future value -- the lower the amount of present value. (An oversimplification). Anyway -- the present value of 365 mill is 220 -- because 220 grows fast. Thus the delta is larger.
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