Then they use the lottery money (which varies depending on the state of the economy) to justify underfunding those same social programs. So you can’t even guarantee that they programs will have a stable budget from year to year, something that’s necessary for these programs to be noisy effective? And what do you do when the economy tanks, suddenly more people than ever need benefits, but there’s even less money coming in, you’re not in a position to raise taxes (and it would take time even if you were), and your state constitution mandates that you have a balanced budget?
Fund things like the salaries and retirement funds of politicians out of the lottery, not the livelihoods of teachers and the well-being of those who desperately need public services.
Then they use the lottery money (which varies depending on the state of the economy) to justify underfunding those same social programs. So you can’t even guarantee that they programs will have a stable budget from year to year, something that’s necessary for these programs to be noisy effective? And what do you do when the economy tanks, suddenly more people than ever need benefits, but there’s even less money coming in, you’re not in a position to raise taxes (and it would take time even if you were), and your state constitution mandates that you have a balanced budget?
Fund things like the salaries and retirement funds of politicians out of the lottery, not the livelihoods of teachers and the well-being of those who desperately need public services.