President Obama is pledging billions of dollars of our money to assist other nations as they develop plans for jobs for their citizens. Millions of Americans are unemployed. Many people have given up on their search for a job.
In a television news interview recently, I was challenged to offer a solution to the joblessness in our state. A promise of millions of dollars going into the treasury of our state and new jobs by the hundreds was made by a proponent of expanded gambling outlets in the interview. As is always the case, this was a dream offer that seemed to be the best possible solution to joblessness in the state of Georgia. When asked what my plan would be to bring jobs to Georgia, my response was that we need to ease up on the regulation of small businesses, cut their taxes, and allow them the opportunity to risk their personal investment in order to expand their business. Neither of the proponents of the other plan had a reply at that point. History documents that the success of our economy is to allow small businesses to thrive and the economy will once again have a chance to recover. We have been told that small business owners are evil. The narrative that has been spun nationally is people who are in business hoard their riches and should be stopped. The solution offered to assist our economy back on its feet is to tax the small business owners according to those who view business investors as evil.
With the growing number of people being out of work, families still loosing their homes, and banks being taken over by the FDIC, we have some among us who are looking for more ways to separate us from our money. Our state is discovering that the lottery that was going to solve all of our education funding needs is not working as promised. There are folks who want to expand gambling in our state. The promise is made that all we need to make our state a success is more creative ways to gamble. Some people want casinos, others support betting at a race track, and another group has come forward with the proposal to have video lottery gambling. Dave Garrett, the first chairman of the lottery board in Georgia, is the main supporter of this expanded gambling venue. Garrett was quoted in the media. “I see this just as a natural maturation of this lottery,” Garrett said. Garrett believes something more is needed to return the confidence in the old lottery program in our state. His solutions are expanded outlets and opening the doors to video lottery.
It is already sad enough that our state has become a predator on the citizens through the lottery. We do not need more predatory gambling outlets that will prey on more of the citizens, taking from them money that could be used to make a house payment or buy food for the family. It is a disgrace that the lottery board in Georgia approved a commercial filled with children to attract more people to buy lottery tickets all under the guise of doing it for the children. The majority of the citizens of our state have become so accustomed to the silly, outlandish promises of the predatory tactics of the lottery board that there has been little notice of the use of children being used in a commercial to entice people to buy more lottery tickets.
The truth is that in the long run the predatory gambling industry always over promises and under delivers on their promises to get their foot in the door in a state. Prize money has to be larger; promises of greater opportunities have to be blown out of reality in order to draw more people into the trap of loosing their money. The biggest winners in the gambling industry are never the people who gamble. We have been so brainwashed about the issue of gambling that some who read this column will immediately retort concerning what I have said about small business investors and gambling. The two do not compare. There is a big difference in taking a risk on an investment and gambling. We have the state run lottery, now we are being told we need more gambling with video machines, and horse racing tracks, and casinos. More gambling outlets are not the solutions to the economic woes of our state or nation.
In a television news interview recently, I was challenged to offer a solution to the joblessness in our state. A promise of millions of dollars going into the treasury of our state and new jobs by the hundreds was made by a proponent of expanded gambling outlets in the interview. As is always the case, this was a dream offer that seemed to be the best possible solution to joblessness in the state of Georgia. When asked what my plan would be to bring jobs to Georgia, my response was that we need to ease up on the regulation of small businesses, cut their taxes, and allow them the opportunity to risk their personal investment in order to expand their business. Neither of the proponents of the other plan had a reply at that point. History documents that the success of our economy is to allow small businesses to thrive and the economy will once again have a chance to recover. We have been told that small business owners are evil. The narrative that has been spun nationally is people who are in business hoard their riches and should be stopped. The solution offered to assist our economy back on its feet is to tax the small business owners according to those who view business investors as evil.
With the growing number of people being out of work, families still loosing their homes, and banks being taken over by the FDIC, we have some among us who are looking for more ways to separate us from our money. Our state is discovering that the lottery that was going to solve all of our education funding needs is not working as promised. There are folks who want to expand gambling in our state. The promise is made that all we need to make our state a success is more creative ways to gamble. Some people want casinos, others support betting at a race track, and another group has come forward with the proposal to have video lottery gambling. Dave Garrett, the first chairman of the lottery board in Georgia, is the main supporter of this expanded gambling venue. Garrett was quoted in the media. “I see this just as a natural maturation of this lottery,” Garrett said. Garrett believes something more is needed to return the confidence in the old lottery program in our state. His solutions are expanded outlets and opening the doors to video lottery.
It is already sad enough that our state has become a predator on the citizens through the lottery. We do not need more predatory gambling outlets that will prey on more of the citizens, taking from them money that could be used to make a house payment or buy food for the family. It is a disgrace that the lottery board in Georgia approved a commercial filled with children to attract more people to buy lottery tickets all under the guise of doing it for the children. The majority of the citizens of our state have become so accustomed to the silly, outlandish promises of the predatory tactics of the lottery board that there has been little notice of the use of children being used in a commercial to entice people to buy more lottery tickets.
The truth is that in the long run the predatory gambling industry always over promises and under delivers on their promises to get their foot in the door in a state. Prize money has to be larger; promises of greater opportunities have to be blown out of reality in order to draw more people into the trap of loosing their money. The biggest winners in the gambling industry are never the people who gamble. We have been so brainwashed about the issue of gambling that some who read this column will immediately retort concerning what I have said about small business investors and gambling. The two do not compare. There is a big difference in taking a risk on an investment and gambling. We have the state run lottery, now we are being told we need more gambling with video machines, and horse racing tracks, and casinos. More gambling outlets are not the solutions to the economic woes of our state or nation.
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