Inspired by lottery mania, whether it is past, current or future, I got to thinking: has anyone who was already obscenely wealthy won a massive jackpot?
Like what if Bill Gates, Elon Musk, or Richard Branson suddenly won a Powerball or Mega Millions for almost a billion dollars?
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How would you feel?
I’ve heard and read stories of pensioners and retirees who won their state lottery and then won again weeks later. But if memory serves those were millions and not hundreds of millions. I don’t begrudge them their good fortune. Pay off the house, send the grandkids to college, retire from being a greeter at the discount super chain.
Godspeed.
But how p*ssed would you be if Elon Musk not only won the Powerball, but that he was even playing it in the first place?
There would be pitchforks and flaming torches outside of Tesla and Space X headquarters. Unless he said, I am giving every last dime to…the March of Dimes. Or St. Jude’s. Or every food pantry in this country.
But here’s what I think.
I think if he could collect without anyone knowing he was the winner he would just deposit the check and go on his way. And if he was ever unmasked he would, with a straight face, say, I needed that money to innovate for the betterment of mankind. And an alarming number of people would believe him and support that.
Now, it’s easy to speculate on what Musk or Zuckerberg or Bezos or any of the rest of the obscenely wealthy would do if they won Powerball instead of a school teacher in Joplin, Missouri, making $38,000 a year. They are an easy target.
But psychologically how would you feel if you, on a public transit bus driver’s salary, giving money to the church plate every Sunday, doing good deeds, raising a family, you heard Jeff Bezos bought a Powerball ticket on a whim and hit for almost a billion dollars? Would you not think that life is rigged?
Or, as a mathematician might argue, we all have the same statistical chance of winning.
What would you do?
I know what Bezos’ ex-wife would do because she’s doing it. That woman can’t seem to give away half of his billions fast enough. And that is cool. She’s “doing the good work,” as my co-host on Local 4+ Khary Hobbs would likely phrase it.
I have said on multiple previous occasions on television that I would retire and live sort of a Bill Murray/Larry David wandering life of crashing weddings and getting into scrapes with coffee shop owners. All in good fun of course. But once I took care of family and friends I would quietly take care of others, too.
I will leave you with a question to ponder. What is the cutoff on envy or even outrage if someone better off than the rest of us wins a jackpot? Does it have to be Warren Buffet for you to be triggered? Or could it be the lawyer you work for who can afford the Lambo and the country club membership? At what point are you mad, bro?
Just so you know you have greater odds of being struck by lightning than becoming a billionaire overnight. So don’t worry about anything that I’ve written. It’s moot.
But still.
Watch Jason Carr Live, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 9:45 a.m., streaming live on Local 4+ and ClickOnDetroit.