Interesting examination of that grey area that is immoral but not illegal.
For a long time I’ve thought that we have too many laws and not enough morals, but I think legalization of sports betting was a big mistake.
The real problem is, of course, the insatiable desire of most governments / politicians for more and more money to spend / control / launder. Taxation is not something that should be decided by our representatives without direct citizen concurrence.
Ok, a book review. As a worker oriented progressive I am virulently opposed to on-line betting. In person betting has inherent social controls, whereas on line betting does not. I'm personally against gambling in general, but I recognize some forms are less harmful than others. I don't believe outright bans of gambling are reasonable morally or practically. But a simple analysis of who benefits and how, should result in the clear perception that the online platforms win and the public writ large loses. The overall winning has to be less than overall losing plus profit to the platforms. It's not an even trade. And what is the utility of gambling on sports, or now, nearly any event? Entertainment? Like meth use is entertainment? There are far better entertainments available, many that actually improve ones life rather than degrade it.
The whole mentality of getting something for nothing as an activity or enterprise is based in avarice and sloth. Work and productivity are honorable and have value. Gambling is the opposite of that. On the other hand, the author notes a nihilist explanation which has a nice narrative ring to it. If that is true for a substantial set of dupes, should exploiting despair be something we allow and promote? What about all the hand-wringing over the fecklessness and lack of direction of young men? Gambling helps that problem? Prostitution is largely an occupation born of despair and hopelessness. We don't promote that. Why would we allow gambling if it is driven by nihilism?
I sound like a religious prohibitionist. I'm far from that. But I am very much in favor of policy that promotes the well-being of the working class. The main supporters of legalized online gambling are big money interests, not workers' interests. I oppose both Trump and Harris because they are both tainted by big money corruption. I resent the last section of the book review in its indictment of Harris as somehow the cause of the online gambling scourge. As I just said I actively oppose Harris. But to imply online gambling is a democrat sponsored vice is unproductive and dishonest. Legalized gambling is most closely associated with Libertarian ideology. That has completely usurped actual conservative ideology in the Republican party. It is exercised behind the scenes by the elite in the Democratic party. Of course that is the very reason the Democratic party is so reviled. But big money and greed has been the literal Republican Brand forever. Trump put a new style spin on it but practically speaking it's big business as usual. Thus, legalized online gambling gone wild.
People need to recognize, explicitly and clearly, that Wealth is Power. Extreme wealth is extreme power to impose what ever it wants on the hoi poloi. Voters don't set the rules voters live by. Big Money does because it has corrupted the parties, politicians and the courts. Online betting, like so much else, was imposed on citizens by the power of extreme wealth. Trump's so-called populist movement is a sham. It is more accurately described as a manipulative Big Money driven cult of personality headed by a profoundly multi-dimensionally defective man. A genuine populist movement devoted to the betterment and security of the working class and the fairness of our economy and politics could be a great thing. It would of course be genuinely disruptive in a good way, as that is the opposite of what we currently live in. Since I don't see that kind of popular groundswell yet, I'm not betting it.
You shouldn't write off MAGA so quickly. Yes Trump is a flawed man, but it speaks to just how deep certain corrupted ideas have become that he was the only one willing to say the things like free trade and mass migration were failing the nation. You could extend that to how deeply the right accepted a corrupted dogma of free markets that refuses to regulate social media in the first place. If you willing to keep blaming the parents for letting their kids get sucked into the screens even while you stuff more and more screens into the schools, then why would you oppose sports betting apps that our targeted to "adults".
I use the quotes because anyone dealing with online porn knows that we still haven't come up with a way to keep underaged teenagers from accessing porn, much less betting apps. And that's before you deal with non-monetary or free betting games that prime kids to move over to the real deal as soon as they can.
Probably the worst thing about these sports better apps is that they flatter the young men into thinking they can turn their love of sports in a money making advantage. Then use all the tricks learned from social media to get them and keep them hooked. So yeah, be leery of big money but also be aware that the easiest way to keep this corruption going it to divide and conquer us by getting us to focus on labels like Republican, Democrat, Progressive or Conservative.
By the way, the original progressives pushed good governance. At least at first. This was done through things like professional city managers, competitive bidding, and merit based hiring processes in government employment. That is what led them to great success in the beginning. Things started to go south when they began thinking that success in those achievements meant that the government would now be successful getting into business. A string a failures in railroads, canals and other big investment is part of what brought them down. Then came the Racism and Euthanasia programs that were meant to make the American people better. I say this because the current progressive movement seems like it wants to skip the making governance better and jump straight to micromanaging the economy and social experiments.
Sounds like you already know that the reality is cuts to education from other sources. Such that you wind up back to the same level of funding. Meanwhile the state is promoting vice.
This offends me. I used to have an employee that wanted more hours but didn't have his own car. I loaned him an old work truck. He ran it out of gas a couple of times. When I went to save him, usual a day before payday, the floor board would have a few new $10 and $20 dollar scratch off tickets. That's the state, making really easy and convenient for a young working man to waste his paycheck on the lottery.
Makes me glad I grew up before all that. While at the same time it increasingly make me angry to hear boomers and my fellow gen Xers ramble on about free markets and parental responsibilities, then ignore the protections we had growing up.
Interesting examination of that grey area that is immoral but not illegal.
For a long time I’ve thought that we have too many laws and not enough morals, but I think legalization of sports betting was a big mistake.
The real problem is, of course, the insatiable desire of most governments / politicians for more and more money to spend / control / launder. Taxation is not something that should be decided by our representatives without direct citizen concurrence.
Ok, a book review. As a worker oriented progressive I am virulently opposed to on-line betting. In person betting has inherent social controls, whereas on line betting does not. I'm personally against gambling in general, but I recognize some forms are less harmful than others. I don't believe outright bans of gambling are reasonable morally or practically. But a simple analysis of who benefits and how, should result in the clear perception that the online platforms win and the public writ large loses. The overall winning has to be less than overall losing plus profit to the platforms. It's not an even trade. And what is the utility of gambling on sports, or now, nearly any event? Entertainment? Like meth use is entertainment? There are far better entertainments available, many that actually improve ones life rather than degrade it.
The whole mentality of getting something for nothing as an activity or enterprise is based in avarice and sloth. Work and productivity are honorable and have value. Gambling is the opposite of that. On the other hand, the author notes a nihilist explanation which has a nice narrative ring to it. If that is true for a substantial set of dupes, should exploiting despair be something we allow and promote? What about all the hand-wringing over the fecklessness and lack of direction of young men? Gambling helps that problem? Prostitution is largely an occupation born of despair and hopelessness. We don't promote that. Why would we allow gambling if it is driven by nihilism?
I sound like a religious prohibitionist. I'm far from that. But I am very much in favor of policy that promotes the well-being of the working class. The main supporters of legalized online gambling are big money interests, not workers' interests. I oppose both Trump and Harris because they are both tainted by big money corruption. I resent the last section of the book review in its indictment of Harris as somehow the cause of the online gambling scourge. As I just said I actively oppose Harris. But to imply online gambling is a democrat sponsored vice is unproductive and dishonest. Legalized gambling is most closely associated with Libertarian ideology. That has completely usurped actual conservative ideology in the Republican party. It is exercised behind the scenes by the elite in the Democratic party. Of course that is the very reason the Democratic party is so reviled. But big money and greed has been the literal Republican Brand forever. Trump put a new style spin on it but practically speaking it's big business as usual. Thus, legalized online gambling gone wild.
People need to recognize, explicitly and clearly, that Wealth is Power. Extreme wealth is extreme power to impose what ever it wants on the hoi poloi. Voters don't set the rules voters live by. Big Money does because it has corrupted the parties, politicians and the courts. Online betting, like so much else, was imposed on citizens by the power of extreme wealth. Trump's so-called populist movement is a sham. It is more accurately described as a manipulative Big Money driven cult of personality headed by a profoundly multi-dimensionally defective man. A genuine populist movement devoted to the betterment and security of the working class and the fairness of our economy and politics could be a great thing. It would of course be genuinely disruptive in a good way, as that is the opposite of what we currently live in. Since I don't see that kind of popular groundswell yet, I'm not betting it.
You shouldn't write off MAGA so quickly. Yes Trump is a flawed man, but it speaks to just how deep certain corrupted ideas have become that he was the only one willing to say the things like free trade and mass migration were failing the nation. You could extend that to how deeply the right accepted a corrupted dogma of free markets that refuses to regulate social media in the first place. If you willing to keep blaming the parents for letting their kids get sucked into the screens even while you stuff more and more screens into the schools, then why would you oppose sports betting apps that our targeted to "adults".
I use the quotes because anyone dealing with online porn knows that we still haven't come up with a way to keep underaged teenagers from accessing porn, much less betting apps. And that's before you deal with non-monetary or free betting games that prime kids to move over to the real deal as soon as they can.
Probably the worst thing about these sports better apps is that they flatter the young men into thinking they can turn their love of sports in a money making advantage. Then use all the tricks learned from social media to get them and keep them hooked. So yeah, be leery of big money but also be aware that the easiest way to keep this corruption going it to divide and conquer us by getting us to focus on labels like Republican, Democrat, Progressive or Conservative.
By the way, the original progressives pushed good governance. At least at first. This was done through things like professional city managers, competitive bidding, and merit based hiring processes in government employment. That is what led them to great success in the beginning. Things started to go south when they began thinking that success in those achievements meant that the government would now be successful getting into business. A string a failures in railroads, canals and other big investment is part of what brought them down. Then came the Racism and Euthanasia programs that were meant to make the American people better. I say this because the current progressive movement seems like it wants to skip the making governance better and jump straight to micromanaging the economy and social experiments.
~~ In person betting has inherent social controls, whereas on line betting does not. ~~
Could you elaborate on this? I’m not disagreeing but I’m not sure what you mean.
A common selling point for state legalization of sports betting is the contribution of tax revenue targeted at education spending
How can you be against higher spending for ‘the children’ as many politicians like to say
Sounds like you already know that the reality is cuts to education from other sources. Such that you wind up back to the same level of funding. Meanwhile the state is promoting vice.
This offends me. I used to have an employee that wanted more hours but didn't have his own car. I loaned him an old work truck. He ran it out of gas a couple of times. When I went to save him, usual a day before payday, the floor board would have a few new $10 and $20 dollar scratch off tickets. That's the state, making really easy and convenient for a young working man to waste his paycheck on the lottery.
Makes me glad I grew up before all that. While at the same time it increasingly make me angry to hear boomers and my fellow gen Xers ramble on about free markets and parental responsibilities, then ignore the protections we had growing up.