Is there anything more Capitalist in our society than the National Lottery?

Question

How can a socialist justify buying a lottery ticket when the lottery takes from the many and gives to the few (The mirror opposite of socialism).
As 90-odd per-cent of people have bought NL tickets, can we presume that socialism is all but dead in this society?

Serious questions deserve serious answers.

Ekonomix. I believe that 99% of people who do the lottery would do it with no charity element at all.
The lottery is Capitalist. Instead of "sharing the wealth" it creates new millionaires, thus concentrating the wealth, not spreading it. How they become millionaires is not as important as the unfairness of winners having way more than most other people.

SSL. I'm not anti-Capitalist. We need profit to pay for schools, hospitals and pensions, amongst other things. But Capitalist societies often encourage RAW greed and innocent people often have their lives destroyed as a knock-on effect of this.
Do people buy lottery tickets to give to charity? Or do they do it to become rich?

Answer 1

Capitalism is based on rational investors purchasing capital based on their estimated return on said investment.

The lottery, in all fairness, is a tax on people who have never taken statistics.

So I respectfully disagree.

Answer 2

There are a few aspects of the National Lottery you forgot.

First is the charitable effect where a good portion of the takings go to charity.
http://lottery.merseyworld.com/Info/Causes.html

Second is the fact that, while only a few win, these few are not chosen by how much they have in the bank, or who they know... It's by luck. So, it is as likely that a ticket bought by Tony Blair wins as much as a ticket bought by the grandma across the street. It's not like capitalism that causes accumulation at the top.

Third is that the National Lottery rate of profit tends to be low as shown in the link above. This is hardly the behaviour we'd expect from a money grabbing capitalist.

I'd say that National Lottery instead of being a capitalist engine, is more like a hope engine. It allows people to dream, even the poorest amongst us, of a windfall that would changeour lives.


Addition:

I wasn't refering to the people buying tickets doing anything for charity but the National Lottery as an organisation. 28% of the takings get redistributed to the charitable causes. Hence the National Lorttery as an organisation is not purely Capitalist.

I agree with your point about disparity in earnings, where the winners become suddenly much much richer than the losers.

However, I do believe that one huge pillar of the capitalism model is that capital is rewarded. This isn't the case for the winfall of the National Lottery.

Answer 3

Why are some people so anti-capitalist ? With out capitalist investors the country could not exist, without investment in trade and companies, no goods would be made no services would be able to operate, life would come to a stand still.There would be no hospital services no utilities, no money for benefits. The majority of investors are not multi-millionaire business types, they are ordinary people, you, me, teachers shop assistants,students vicars bus drivers. They invest a few pounds and in return they receive a payment once or twice a year from the profits of the company they have invested in. ( If the company does not make any profit or very little, the investor receives nothing for the loan of his money.)Anyone with £50.00. or less can be an investor. It seems to me that the people who gripe about this sort of thing, are the ones who fritter away what money they do have, instead of trying to save it.and then become envious of others. It is easy to shout "capitalist pig" at some one in a Rolls -Royce, try shouting it to the ones driving Fords and second-hand ones at that.. Stop blaming your situation on others and do something about it yourself, if not stop griping.

Answer 4

National Lottery isnt capitalist. If it was, it would be privately run. It is a government entity. That makes it a tool of centralization and therefore socialism.

Therefore, I believe my opinion is the mirror opposite of yours: I presume capitalism to be all but dead in your society. However, as long as 10% hold out, there's still hope.

Answer 5

First, we're assuming our terms such as Capitalist and Socialist are pure by definition. I doubt it comes as a shock that we live in a "mixed society." The second point of assuming socialism is dead becomes moot. It creates wealth not just on the individual level (the winner) but on a larger scale, helps fund many private and public needs.

Answer 6

In aswer to your question, is anything more Capitalist...my answer is New Labour, and i say it as someone who used to support Labour. They have/are virtually selling the whole country and all its services. It's all about making profits now, whether it's the NHS or the trains (which was privatised by the Tories, but Labour doesn't seem to be doing anything to help ordinary commuters).

I understand where you coming from re the National Lottery. And in my humble opinion, with New Labour as it is, yes, socialism is all but dead in this society and it will only get worse. I can't imagine the Tories turning towards socialism if they win the next election.

Answer 7

The lottery is neither capitalist nor socialist. It is a tax for being dumb enough to throw away money.

Answer 8

Oh dear you must try and get out more often