Nut jobs

So a bunch of second shift cheese workers won the $208 million PowerBall lottery? Good for them. It is nice to see a group of hard workers catch a break in life.

I hope they don't get too silly and screw it up. The haul for the individual if they take the lump sum is only $654,000 (after taxes). Yep, I said only $654,000. Don't get me wrong, it is a nice chunk of change. But I sure wouldn't call it life changing. Life enhancing, yes, but not life changing. Hell, it will benefit the local car dealership as much as it will the winners.

See, with that $654,000, most are probably going to buy a new house or car, go on a nice vacation, pay off debt, and start to buy things they never could before. Wait, can't forget about the vultures that will show up at their doors looking for handouts. They will spend like they have no care in their world. Before they know it, that money will be gone. Heck, the worst thing any of them could do is quit their jobs.

Unless of course they are smart and invest the majority of it. They should pay off their debts first, then have fun with some, but should be investing 65-75% of that cash. Even at a low return on bonds at 5%, they are earning around $25k/year. I bet they aren't making much more than that at work. By taking on a little more risk, the return can be raised and eventually grow into something more meaningful.

Instead, I bet there will be a follow up story on these 100 people in the future saying how all the money is gone for the majority of them. That always seems to be the case when the lottery is won because the simplest of money management is never followed.

Now if one person had won the entire amount, which would be a lump of $65 million after taxes, it would be different. That is life changing. You could take even a million and go nuts. You would be taking in over $3 mil in interest. You could quit your job. You could help out people as you see fit. You can own your own company. The hardest thing to do would be staying active.

I see some nut jobs are crawling out of the woodwork again. The 9/11 conspirators are making noise. Of course they get the headlines while those who can debunk every thing they say never are heard from. In the linked article, they quote a survey that said 1/3 of Americans that responded, had suspicions of the US governments role. Now survey is suppose to mean something? They polled just over 1000 people! Thus 300 crazy people that could have answered "maybe" to a question are able to voice an opinion for the close to 300 million people that live in the U.S. That is .0001 percent of the population.

Let's give the debunkers some credit here. Check out Screw Loose Change video. They have a series of videos that are worth watching. They take on the main issues that the conspirators put out and prove them wrong. You can see both arguments and make your own decisions. Or you can read the Screw Loose Change blog.

See, I hate the nut jobs that cannot accept logic and reality. Don't get me wrong. I don't think you should buy whatever people hand you. You should think for yourself and come to your own conclusions. But when you do, you cannot choose to ignore the facts and cling to your theories no matter how fragile- and wrong- they are.

Maybe we should ignore the loudmouths to begin with. Then again, we couldn't enjoy the entertainment value they provide.