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The PPI Cash Blog reports that the Tennessee legislature "has looked to make living difficult for those reeling under poverty". A committee hearing on Wednesday is likely to discuss a bill which would prevent anyone receiving federal or state assistance (i.e. welfare) from winning $ 600 or excess in Tennessee state lottery payments.

The gist of the proposed bill is that those who cannot afford basic necessities and rely on public assistance should not be spending money on lotteries.  PPI says that "people say that the government need not tell them how to spend their money".  PPI suggests the Bill is inequitable because it treats those who are unemployed and those on welfare differently.

PPI goes on to say that "recent studies have concluded that the poor spend most percent of their income on lottery tickets than wealthier people. It's the old "dollar and a dream" concept, an effort to get out of poverty, even if winning odds are extremely slim.

According to PPI, the State of Tennessee review has found that nearly 50% of those individuals who received food stamps from state purchase lottery tickets. Nearly half of them are expected to stop playing if the bill is passed. PPI hopes the Tennessee legislature will not try to expand bill that prohibits large lottery winnings to those people who get state unemployment checks. The operative quote is "though remaining unemployed is difficult enough, remaining poor and unemployed is still worse".

Comment

So let me get this straight. It's not OK (and gives rise to Congressional hearings) for public corporations who take "welfare" (a/k/a TARP) from the United States Treasury to spend money on business development that could potentially create jobs, but it's OK for some poor bastard to spend the government's money on a one in $%^&ing million chance at a fortune. And if he or she doesn't win the taxpayer will have to pay anyway.

Boy, the way Glenn Miller played. Songs that made the Hit Parade.

Guys like us, we had it made. Those were the days.

Didn't need no welfare state. Everybody pulled his weight.

Gee, our old LaSalle ran great. Those were the days.

And you know who you were then. Girls were girls and men were men.

Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.

People seemed to be content. Fifty dollars paid the rent.

Freaks were in a circus tent. Those were the days.

Take a little Sunday spin, go to watch the Dodgers win.

Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin.

Hair was short and skirts were long. Kate Smith really sold a song.

I don't know just what went wrong. Those Were The Days.

Lyrics: Lee Adams and Charles Strouse

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