A Ridiculous Lottery Meme (and How People Will Blindly Follow "Good" Ideas)

           This week we witnessed the drawing of the largest Powerball jackpot in United States history.  In total, 635 million tickets were sold in the hopes of taking home the $1.58 BILLION jackpot. I am sure that I was not the only one who spent this week wishfully dreaming of the infinite ways all that money could be spent. We can get so caught up in our rich fantasies that we often forget that the odds of winning, 1 in 292,000,000, are ridiculously improbable. Just for a comparison, you are more likely to died from a vending machine accident(1 in 112 million). Nevertheless, we are still allowed to dream; and that is what makes the lottery so successful. It's always fun to think of what it would be like to instantly win big. And in this technological age we live in today, many took to social media with their thoughts on the lottery. Amongst the several annoying "I will split my winnings with everyone who shares this picture" posts, this picture appeared in my newsfeed:

                Now at first glance this may seem like a genuine idea to solve the very serious issue of poverty in the country. The lottery is a lot of money and it could be used in better ways. I get that. Unfortunately I have a big problem with this post. IT IS COMPLETELY WRONG!!!

               

                First off, the math itself is actually incorrect! $1.2 billion divided by 300,000,000 Americans is not $4.33 million per person. As a matter of fact, it is only $4.33; just a slight difference. Giving everyone in America 4 bucks would be nice, but it is not the same as $4,000,000! How much would it cost to actually give everybody $4 million? $1,200,000,000,000,000! (that’s $1.2 quadrillion by the way.) So yeah, just a little different.

                Additionally, if ridiculously incorrect math isn't enough to discredit this post, giving everybody $4 million would not solve poverty to the extent that many people think it would. Sure everybody would be $4 million richer, but costs of goods would also increase to adjust to the economic status of the country. While it might make a slight difference, it would not signify the end of poverty forever.

                This post was shared all over Facebook and other social media sites. Some of its popularity was the result of the glaring mathematical error, but there were also many people who shared it to express their support for this idea. For me, this was an example of how many people can be so blind when it comes to supporting a good cause. There are many people in America that read that, saw "$4.33 million per person" and "poverty solved!", and instantly supported it and share it with the #ShareThis. Solving poverty is without a doubt a serious issue, but it becomes a problem when people start supporting outrageous ideas without understanding the details and costs behind them. It is socially accepted that equality and helping others is the right thing to do. Not a bad thing either. However, this leads many uninformed people to blindly follow ideas and plans simply to support "the right thing to do". A theoretical idea that supports these socially accepted values will gain great amounts of support. Unfortunately, not every supporter of this amazing plan will take the time to actually understand the details and costs of the idea. The idea might not necessarily be a horrible one, and it probably supports an important issue. But just like with the wonderful lottery idea, giving everybody what they want might actually cost a lot more than people tell you.