Political Money-Grab

EDITORIAL

Did you bet on March Madness? I did, and many of you did, too.

Americans bet billions on NCAA tournaments. We also “spent $60 billion at casinos last year (and) about $12 billion on online sports betting,” notes economist Jason Sorens in my new video. Sorens published a state-by-state ranking of gambling freedom across America. Nevada lets gambling flourish, while Utah, Hawaii and Georgia ban most of it.

Now some politicians want to ban more. Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker moved to ban arcade-style gambling machines found in gas stations and convenience stores, loftily saying, “It’s not OK to tempt our residents ... to gamble away their hardearned dollars.”

Some states ban at-home poker games, occasionally even arresting players.

Bureaucrats at President Joe Biden’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission tried to prohibit betting on elections.

Now no-fun U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Richard Blumenthal want sports betting banned again. OK, it’s true that gambling can create problems. The National Council on Problem Gambling offers help here.

But gambling is also a kick.

And in a free country, people should be allowed to take risks. “This is a way of having fun,” says Sorens, “often in a social environment, doing it with friends, adding some extra ‘zing’ while they watch a game.”

What bothers me is the raw hypocrisy of the politicians.

The same bullies who want to ban gambling don’t propose banning the worst form of it -- their own state lotteries. “It’s ridiculous,” says Sorens, “You have politicians grandstanding (about gambling’s harm) ... and at the same time, they advertise a worse form of gambling!”

Worse, because among all forms of gambling, government lotteries pay out the least. Slot machines are a dumb bet, yet on average, they still give you back about 90% of what’s bet. Sports bettors and poker players keep more. But state lotteries take almost half of everything bet!

Worse, they take it from poor people. Lottery ticket buyers are disproportionately poor.

Still, politicians approve their lottery scams because they want the money. Taxing people is unpopular. Ripping poor people off by offering bad odds on gambling games usually flies under the radar. Politicians’ hunger for money is also why they forbid private gambling businesses to compete with them.

Private lotteries were once big. Numbers runners took bets by phone.

Also, bookies took bets on horse races, providing “off-track betting” for people who don’t have time or money to get to the track.

Of course that reduced the government’s cut, so politicians banned both what they called the “numbers racket” and off-track betting.

Then they created their own off-track betting.

But government is so incompetent, so inefficient, that its offtrack betting parlors lose money! “

Government is always inefficient,” says Sorens. “Unions get their cut ... wages are high, benefits immense. It’s another reason we shouldn’t want government running gambling operations. They do it at a high cost.”

Politicians are pompous hypocrites, calling gambling evil, banning it when they can, then saying, “Hey, come play our game!” They don’t mention that “their” games offer worse odds.

This week, the price of a Mega Millions MAGNOLIA GAZETTE “ERROR OF OPINION MAY BE TOLERATED WHERE REASON IS LEFT FREE TO COMBAT IT” ...THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1801 LUCIUS LAMPTON, M.D., Editor-in-Chief MARK I. LAMPTON, Business Manager ALYCE SIMPSON, Managing Editor NANCY MORRIS, Office Manager, Osyka Reporter, Publisher’s Assistant NANCY LEBLANC, Contributing Editor JAMES HARRIS, Contributing Editor DAVID MORRIS, Contributing Editor CARROLL CASE, Contributing Editor DWALIA SOUTH, M.D., North Miss. Correspondent MELISSA JOHNSON, Social Editor STANLEY HARTNESS, M.D., Natchez Trace Correspondent SCOTT ANDERSON, M.D., Fine Arts Editor TOMMY YOUNG, Sports Photographer CHARLES W. “TREY” EMERSON, M.D., Poetry Editor LUCINDA LAMBTON, European Correspondent BENNETT SIMPSON, Digital Editor FREDERICK W. REIMERS, Outdoors Editor FORD DYE, M.D., Oxford Beat Writer TERRY JACKSON, City Editor JIM MCELWEE, County Editor JUDY CAUSEY LOVE, S.E. Alabama Contributing Editor MAC GORDON, SOWEGA Bureau Chief CRAWFORD D. LAMPTON, Gazette Photographer GARLAND D. LAMPTON, Gazette Autos Editor CATHERINE BROWN, Columnist BECKY NELMS CURRIE, Political Editor/Photographer (Ming Dynasty Cotillion Queen) IN MEMORIAM: Literary Ed. Richard C. Wood (1925-2014) Louis J. Lyell, Contributing Editor (1925-2023) Guy Geller, Contributing Editor (1936-2024) Tommy Covington, My Mixed-Up Files Editor (1943-2024) Published by THE MAGNOLIA GAZETTE PUBLISHING CORPORATION on Thursday of every week at 280 Magnolia Street, Magnolia, Miss, 39652 Phone (601) 783-2441 Fax (601) 783-2091 Email address: magnoliagazette@bellsouth.net nancymgazette@gmail.com Office Hours: Mon., Tues., Wed. 9-5 Established December 7, 1872 by Captain J. D. Burke Periodical postage paid for at Magnolia, MS Post Office Member, Mississippi Press Association Member, National Newspaper Association Subscriptions: $25 in Pike, Amite & Walthall Counties, & Tangipahoa Parish $40 Elsewhere PUBLICATION POLICY All interested individuals are invited to submit letters, articles, opinions, cartoons, photos and other material of general interest to this publication. Submissions must be accompanied by a signature and bear the mailing address and phone number of the author. Letters to the editor will be edited for space and clarity, and the editor reserves the right to reject letters due to length, available space or libelous content. Deadline on all copy will be 12 noon Friday. The views expressed by the articles in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. POSTMASTER: Please send changes of address to 280 Magnolia Street, Magnolia, Mississippi 39652 web site: www.magnoliagazette.com POLITICAL MONEY-GRAB by John Stossel Trump taking care of business by Daniel Gardner, Special to the Gazette Governments are in the business of making and spending money just like everybody else. That’s where tariffs come in. Nations control who can buy and sell within their borders by charging tariffs or taxes. In fact the USA has charged tariffs from the beginning of our nation to the extent that we didn’t even have a national income tax until 1913 when the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified. Before that money to fund the government came primarily from tariffs on foreign nations. Last week President Trump defended his use of “reciprocal tariffs” by showing a list of more than 180 nations and territories and what they charge us to do business in their countries. Mr. Trump used a number of visual aids to compare how much more our trading partners charge us for selling our goods and services than what we charge them for selling their goods and services here. For example one chart showed China charged us 67% to sell our products and services there. Mr. Trump explained we plan to raise our tariffs on China from 34% to 54%. Vietnam has been charging us 90%. The President said he had set a 10% baseline tariff across the board adding, “We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us.” Donald Trump has literally been advocating using tariffs to leverage trade deals since the 1980s, long before politics became a new bailiwick for him. Before his run for president Trump enjoyed successfully playing “The Art of the Deal” in his many business endeavors. Negotiating trade deals with other national leaders comes naturally to him. Here at home Mr. Trump has been universally denounced by the usual detractors on the left and in the media, though I repeat myself. Those on his right flank support him … sort of … with a lot of caveats like, “I’ve seen him win a lot and I won’t bet against him.” They’re voting more for the man than for the policies or the politics. In the meantime the markets have lost more money than Elon Musk and his merry men ever thought about recouping from all the waste, fraud and abuse inside the federal bureaucracy. Nevertheless, DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) has saved hundreds of billions of dollars for American taxpayers. The young department still has its eyes set on recouping dollars in the trillions. Detractors of DOGE and Musk claim they are going to destroy Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. GENERAL TSO LIVES ON THROUGH HIS NAMESAKE DISH by Kara Kimbrough Available Now at THE MAGNOLIA GAZETTE $22.00 e-mail Nancy at nancymgazette@gmail.com or call 601-783-2441 LMA-PA Sandwiches $9 Lunch Menu 114 Franklinton St. Tylertown, MS (Served daily until 3 PM) 601-827-5029 Open: MON. - FRI. 8 am - 3 pm SAT. 8 am - 1 pm Dressed with Lettuce, Tomato, Pickle, Onions Extra Grilled Onions & Peppers (Bread: Panini, Poboy, Croissant) Gluten Free Wrap, Gluten Free Panini, Add $2) (Cheese: American, Cheddar, Swiss, Provolone, Pepper Jack) (Condiments: Mayo, Mustard, Honey Mustard) *The Hobo - Ham, Cheese *The Roundup - Roast Beef, Cheese, Grilled Onions & Peppers *The Gobbler - Turkey, Cheese, Grilled Onions & Peppers *The Doodle Bug - Grilled Eggplant, Zucchini, Squash, Onions, Peppers, Cheese, Pesto *The Club - Ham, Turkey, Bacon, Cheese *The Piggy Back - Pulled Pork, Mayo, BBQ sauce on the side *Locomotive $13 - Roast Beef, Turkey, Ham, Bacon, Onions & Peppers, Pepper Jack Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles, Onions *Brisket Sandwich $13 - Sliced Brisket, Sauce, Provolone Cheese, Grilled Onions & Peppers OR Broccoli Cole Slaw dePots Chicken $8 Seafood $10 *Chicken Salad Croissant $9 ~Large Variety of Coffee Drinks~ *JUMBO SLIDER $4 Dressed or add Onions & Peppers - Ham & Cheese - Roast Beef & Cheese - Turkey & Cheese - Pulled Pork *BREAKFAST Biscuit, Bagel, Croissant, Wrap Meat Only Egg w/Bacon or Sausage or Ham Add Cheese Scones Cinnamon Rolls $5 $4 $5 $.50 $4 $4 $10 $1 $10 off a 2 year subscription Send coupon & payment to: Magnolia Gazette 280 Magnolia St. Magnolia, MS 39652 LMA-PA