Here’s what some citizens from the city that helped define America’s core democratic principles almost 225 years ago think about state-sponsored predatory gambling:
The officer in the first video said the police had some “good intel” about the protest. What in the world does that mean? It seemed like the whole point of the protest was to get arrested, it’s not like the police need “intel” to see the people in the red shirts sitting right in front of the gate of the planned casino.
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p>Are the police actually bothering to infiltrate or have surveillance on the anti-gambling groups or something? If so, that’s really disturbing. Even if not, and the “intel” was just a press release, it’s bad that the police are using the language of war to describe this situation.
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p>Kudos to the protesters. I really hope it doesn’t come to that in MA.
middlebororeviewsays
Thanks for posting this! These people are great!
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p>This is a Foxwoods’ is deal —
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p>
The Mashantucket Western Pequot Tribal Nation, part-owner of a planned Philadelphia gambling hall, is trying to restructure its vast Connecticut casino’s $2 billion-plus debt load so it can keep pulling in cash from a shrinking crowd of gamblers.
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p>I hope no one misses this quote —
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“We’ll be asking creditors to take a big haircut,” a tribal adviser told the New London Day.
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p>It couldn’t be much plainer that they screwed creditors in CT because they’re a “Sovereign Nation” and now they move on.
Shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in PA . . .and it’s state run. These protesters must have included the predatory state lottery in their protest – right?
During the Great Depression, leaders like FDR stood before middle and low income people and challenged them to buy savings bonds to pay for the war effort and to help make up for lost revenues. And the people responded, creating a high rate of savings that ultimately led to the deepest, broadest economic boom in American history right after the war.
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p>Today, in the midst of the worst economic crisis since that era, government is aggressively encouraging people to lose their money on $20 scratch tickets, Keno games that run every four minutes for 1500 games a week and if they have their way, potentially the purest form of predatory gambling- slot machines.
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p>Bringing casinos into major populations areas and the extreme forms of Lottery products we see today are both highly predatory practices. That’s why the people who own and promote these products don’t use them for themselves.
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p>Les Bernal
christophersays
…I would resist the temptation to try to make any connections between the founders and their principles and gambling. For one thing I’m not aware of this activity crossing the minds of any of the founders, and secondly if freedom is the value in play then it seems allowing gambling would be more conducive to freedom. That is, if people choose to be careless with their money, who are we to stop them?
I used the term “founding principles” in the post…not “founders”.
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p>Taylor Branch, one of America’s most acclaimed historians and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his book on the Civil Rights Movement titled Parting the Waters, explains why predatory gambling defies America’s core principles far more persuasively than I ever will:
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p>”State-sponsored predatory gambling is essentially a corruption of democracy because it violates the most basic premises that make democracy unique: that you can be self-governing, you can be honest and open about your disagreements as well as your agreements, and that you trust other people that you are in this together. That’s what a compact of citizens is. And the first-step away from it is to play each other for suckers. We’re going to trick them into thinking they are going to get rich but they are really going to be paying my taxes.”
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p>You can watch him say it for himself right here.
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p>Les Bernal
christophersays
Sorry, but I’m not persuaded. We can still be self-governing, have honest disagreements, and trust each other, while being free to sink our own money into slots or the lottery. None of this is mutually exclusive and nobody has to be a “sucker”. As distasteful as it might be freedom includes the freedom to make unwise choices about your money.
heartlanddemsays
I have to pay for my neighbor’s “unwise choices” like I am paying for the “unwise choices” of financial institutions aka predatory lenders?
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p>Especially when the “unwise choices” are driven by compulsion and preventable addiction to electronically programmed machines? Each gambling addict costs society tens of thousands of dollars per year. Proximity doubles the rates of addictive gambling.
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p>Predatory gambling harms individuals, families and communities. It is regressive taxation; does not produce a product and the industry is full of graft.
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p>I am not a Libertarian. I am Progressive Democrat that does not believe in the oppression of one group of people (a minority) for the benefit of the powerful. In this case the powerful would be elected officials aka government, lobbyists and corporate investors.
christophersays
…that we can alleviate/prevent addiction without resorting to banning altogether. I have said repeatedly that we should heavily regulate the business and educate people about the dangers. I have also pointed out multiple times that any argument you can make regarding addiction and the potential thereof can be made about alcohol, yet we don’t ban it. Predatory lending is not a good analogy either as people are made vulnerable to that by the fundamental need for housing, whereas gambling is a form of recreation you can either engage in or not.
The officer in the first video said the police had some “good intel” about the protest. What in the world does that mean? It seemed like the whole point of the protest was to get arrested, it’s not like the police need “intel” to see the people in the red shirts sitting right in front of the gate of the planned casino.
<
p>Are the police actually bothering to infiltrate or have surveillance on the anti-gambling groups or something? If so, that’s really disturbing. Even if not, and the “intel” was just a press release, it’s bad that the police are using the language of war to describe this situation.
<
p>Kudos to the protesters. I really hope it doesn’t come to that in MA.
Thanks for posting this! These people are great!
<
p>This is a Foxwoods’ is deal —
<
p>
<
p>I hope no one misses this quote —
<
p>
<
p>It couldn’t be much plainer that they screwed creditors in CT because they’re a “Sovereign Nation” and now they move on.
<
p>
Shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in PA . . .and it’s state run. These protesters must have included the predatory state lottery in their protest – right?
<
p>http://www.palottery.state.pa.us/
During the Great Depression, leaders like FDR stood before middle and low income people and challenged them to buy savings bonds to pay for the war effort and to help make up for lost revenues. And the people responded, creating a high rate of savings that ultimately led to the deepest, broadest economic boom in American history right after the war.
<
p>Today, in the midst of the worst economic crisis since that era, government is aggressively encouraging people to lose their money on $20 scratch tickets, Keno games that run every four minutes for 1500 games a week and if they have their way, potentially the purest form of predatory gambling- slot machines.
<
p>Bringing casinos into major populations areas and the extreme forms of Lottery products we see today are both highly predatory practices. That’s why the people who own and promote these products don’t use them for themselves.
<
p>Les Bernal
…I would resist the temptation to try to make any connections between the founders and their principles and gambling. For one thing I’m not aware of this activity crossing the minds of any of the founders, and secondly if freedom is the value in play then it seems allowing gambling would be more conducive to freedom. That is, if people choose to be careless with their money, who are we to stop them?
I used the term “founding principles” in the post…not “founders”.
<
p>Taylor Branch, one of America’s most acclaimed historians and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his book on the Civil Rights Movement titled Parting the Waters, explains why predatory gambling defies America’s core principles far more persuasively than I ever will:
<
p>”State-sponsored predatory gambling is essentially a corruption of democracy because it violates the most basic premises that make democracy unique: that you can be self-governing, you can be honest and open about your disagreements as well as your agreements, and that you trust other people that you are in this together. That’s what a compact of citizens is. And the first-step away from it is to play each other for suckers. We’re going to trick them into thinking they are going to get rich but they are really going to be paying my taxes.”
<
p>You can watch him say it for himself right here.
<
p>Les Bernal
Sorry, but I’m not persuaded. We can still be self-governing, have honest disagreements, and trust each other, while being free to sink our own money into slots or the lottery. None of this is mutually exclusive and nobody has to be a “sucker”. As distasteful as it might be freedom includes the freedom to make unwise choices about your money.
I have to pay for my neighbor’s “unwise choices” like I am paying for the “unwise choices” of financial institutions aka predatory lenders?
<
p>Especially when the “unwise choices” are driven by compulsion and preventable addiction to electronically programmed machines? Each gambling addict costs society tens of thousands of dollars per year. Proximity doubles the rates of addictive gambling.
<
p>Predatory gambling harms individuals, families and communities. It is regressive taxation; does not produce a product and the industry is full of graft.
<
p>I am not a Libertarian. I am Progressive Democrat that does not believe in the oppression of one group of people (a minority) for the benefit of the powerful. In this case the powerful would be elected officials aka government, lobbyists and corporate investors.
…that we can alleviate/prevent addiction without resorting to banning altogether. I have said repeatedly that we should heavily regulate the business and educate people about the dangers. I have also pointed out multiple times that any argument you can make regarding addiction and the potential thereof can be made about alcohol, yet we don’t ban it. Predatory lending is not a good analogy either as people are made vulnerable to that by the fundamental need for housing, whereas gambling is a form of recreation you can either engage in or not.