The Poor Get Poorer

You are not going to believe this one.  At least, I was saddened and shocked.  Then again, I realize that the "poor among us" do make poor financial decisions; but governments at all levels are taking undue advantage of those that are ill equipped to make sound financial decisions.  Now, to the substance of this post.  According to new studies, households earning $13,000 per year spend almost $1,170 per year on lottery tickets, which is 9% of their total income.  Yet, states rely more and more on measures that target these individuals to buy lottery tickets, which makes the poor more dependent on government through food stamps and medicaid.  

In another study, lottery ticket sales in North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Texas and Connecticut found that per capita lottery sales are consistently higher in the poorest counties and tickets are more likely to be purchased by unemployed individuals.

In a very perverse way, the government wants to take more money from the productive end of society, who do invest wisely and create jobs to grow the economy, and give it to those individuals who do not make good financial decisions.  Go figure!