Commentary

Mega Millions Madness!

Attention: Luck Needed Badly

Yes folks, lottery fever is in the air today! The odds are 176 million to 1, but the jackpot has climbed to just over double that amount ($355M) for the multi-state Mega Millions drawing. So, plunking down a few hard-earned dollars may make some sense.

There was an article on page three of the Daily News today concerning today’s monster pot of cash, just sitting there, waiting to be won. Several New Yorkers interviewed for the article bared their dreams of material bliss. One man said he would buy his very own island, another wanted a new house filled with lots of brand new stuff, including an indoor swimming pool.

The next page carried a story about an $80 million supercomputer that New York City is planning to purchase in order to track each of the city’s 1.1 million students with Orwellian precision. The author of the school-related article pointed out that the amount of money slated for one of these digital monsters could pay for three brand new elementary schools and cover a year’s worth of staffing costs for them, as well. There has been some debate on the merits of making such a large computer hardware expenditure when so many schools in the city suffer from overcrowding or are collapsing due to years of improper maintenance. Some suffer from both of these problems.

This is a logical debate, one necessary in order to make the proper spending decisions necessary in order to better New York City’s education system. What was missing after this article was a commentary on what $355M could purchase in the area of education and public services.

This whopping sum of money could purchase 13 brand new elementary schools with enough money left over for teacher salaries. As far as public services is concerned, this windfall could improve the lives of thousands of New Yorkers through the expansion of existing programs, and could go a long way toward reducing the chronic shortage of affordable housing.

But, in today’s land of plenty for the lucky few, the very notion of spending a large sum of money in a way that would benefit the many is not even considered to be a dream anymore.

© 2007 Splendid Marbles.