Here's $30 million. What would you NOT do with it?

[jmowreader]

One of our favorite pastimes is talking about what we'd do with the money if we won the lottery, got a massive inheritance, or something like that.

Let's play a different game: You just received a $30 million lump-sum, after-tax payout from the Your State Lottery. Tell us what you wouldn't do with it.

We of course know that you wouldn't give it to the RNC, buy a Hummer, support Operation Save America or Westboro Baptist Church...so don't mention that you wouldn't give any money to Fred Phelps. We know that already.

I'm thinking more of "what business would you not want to be in?".

I'll start: I would not buy any sort of lodging establishment. No hotel. No motel. No B&B. I might buy the Bates Motel and turn it into a Bad Horror Movie theme park, but I wouldn't want to own a lodging establishment that actually rented rooms to people.

[NewWaveChick1981]

1. I would NOT buy ANYTHING at Wal-Mart with it....

nor would I buy a home in Ave Maria, FL. :yoiks:

[ComerPerro]

25. you could buy a lot of crap at WalMart with 30mil

[NewWaveChick1981]

39. Yeah, but I'd rather not buy crap.

:P

[Jamastiene]

35. I would never shop Wal-Mart-Hell again.

I'd go all the way to Charlotte or Raleigh and purchase anything I needed at another store.

Bad thing is now I have no choice. Wal-Mart ran everyone else outta town here. :shrug:

[ohiosmith]

2. I would not spend it on cheap booze and slutty women. I would spend

it on expensive booze and slutty women.

[jmowreader]

43. The women you attract with $30 mil in the bank aren't "sluts"

They're "exotic women with extreme sexual appetites."

It's kinda like that Dennis Hopper line out of Speed: "Poor people are crazy. I'm eccentric."

[Chan790]

3. I would not cash the ticket.

how's that for mind-blowing?

[jmowreader]

11. They tracked you down and made you take the money

At gunpoint, if necessary.

What wouldn't you do now?

[Chan790]

16. Ugh.

I'm serious...I have a great disdain for wealth. I don't want it, I don't want to be bothered to even give it away, I don't want anything to do with it. I certainly wouldn't leave it to anybody and I'm pretty sure it'd kill me or ruin me or my life if I took it. Personal fortune as the ruination of humanity. I'm already purposefully avoiding familial wealth successfully to this point in life, around $2M worth. It's just sitting there like a stone.

So I guess the answer is I wouldn't do anything with it at all. I wouldn't quit my job, I wouldn't buy anything or acknowledge its' existence. Just like right now. I'd go about my life. I just might burn it, bury it, throw it away, leave it in a shoebox, use it to line cabinets, litter boxes or clean up kitchen spills. Anything...out of sight, out of mind.

I'd certainly deprive the government of it though.

[yewberry]

29. Man, if someone gives you that ticket

...send it me.

I figured out this year that, by working in conjunction with just one local elementary school and AmeriCorps, I could have built a daily summer literacy tutoring program (6-7 weeks) for 35-40 of our most challenged kids for about 3 grand. That's it. Three thousand dollars.

I couldn't raise it.

Dang.

Sure, money can be dangerous thing, but it can be a good thing, too.


Yeah, send that ticket over here. We'd have little kids all over West Seattle mastering that silent 'e' before second grade!

[Chan790]

31. I think I know that A*C program

were you affiliated with either Literacy AmeriCorps or LiteracyUSA out of Houston, TX?

[yewberry]

32. Nope

I was working with the Washington Reading Corps here in Seattle.

Pretty similar to other literacy-based AmeriCorps programs, except that they're administered throught the Fremont Public Association, a local anti-racist & anti-poverty nonprofit. Yup: a fairly far-left anti-racist group administering a federal program for the local OSPI, who'd allocated exactly $0 for the program.

Much hilarity ensued.

[Chan790]

33. AmeriCorps programs

For some reason, AmeriCorps programs always seem to revolve around much hilarity ensuing.

My own AmeriCorps experience turned into a farce because my site supervisor (The executive director of the organization) could not grasp the simple concept that he wasn't allowed to fire us without legitimate cause. Not that this stopped him from trying, nor prevented him from calling the program coordinator (the assistant director of his parent organization) and begging weekly.

Usually his cited reason was that I refused to break the law or violate the Donor Bill of Rights in the course of my duties as a development staffer and that the other AmeriCorps member, an experienced public relations coordinator who left a professional position in the media to do AmeriCorps because she truly believes in the idea of a year of service, used to fact-check and correct made-up statistics in his press releases.

He hadn't wanted AmeriCorps members in the first place but had us foisted upon him because the parent organization felt he was a "poor" fundraiser and media liasion.

[yewberry]

38. *snicker*

I think you pegged the program--they should dump the "Getting things done" motto and just go with "...And much hilarity ensued."

Sounds like your site supervisor was a real creep! That factor seems to be the biggest factor in what kind of a service year people have.

[sakabatou]

4. Give it to the GOP

[mwooldri]

21. Well, Walmart & The GOP are two obvious candidates...

... not to give money to.

Me? I'm definitely not donating to that guy in CT who's running a third party to get elected as being senator.. sorry I forget his name but wasn't he a presidential candidate at one time?

I'm definitely not donating a lot of money to the RSPCA. They might get some but not a whole lot.

I'm not donating to "Bush the Builder" - the Iraq Edition.

I'll try for something witty in the parent thread.

/Mark.

[LeftyMom]

5. I would not spend much on myself. nt

[RebelOne]

6. I would just travel around the world. Wouldn't buy anything.

I would leave this country as soon as possible.

[Dangerously Amused]

7. I wouldn't not put it in an off-shore account

...so this assinine administration couldn't tax the income and use my money to support illegal and immoral wars with the goal of killing innocent people so as to steal control of their oil, THAT'S one thing I wouldn't do.


:patriot:

[SteppingRazor]

8. The Bates Hotel is already part of a theme park...

as anyone who's been on the Universal Studios Tour can tell ya! :hi:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

9. I definitely wouldn't buy a Hummer, but I definitely WOULD BUY this...

Viking 61' Convertible Fishing Yacht

I'd invest the rest of the money and live on the boat.

[jmowreader]

12. Three or four million for a boat with an open helm?

They're kidding, right?

A boat that big is going out in some genuinely dogshit weather; anyone with four million in loose change is too rich to stand drenched in frigid seawater for hours on end. Get yourself a Hatteras 90C, which has enough range that people can hire you to be their best friend and take them fishing for Dover sole off the coast of Dover--which is in England.

Plus, the big Hat has enough power to get you OUT of the stupid situation you put yourself into.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

30. It's $1.75 million actually

[jmowreader]

41. Still too expensive to sit up there and get drenched on

Then again...if you had enough scratch sitting around to pay $1.75 million for a boat, you could take it to a yard and have the helm enclosed. And it IS a pretty boat.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

42. If I had $30 million, I think I could manage that.

[KamaAina]

10. Sink it into T-bills

my fortune will not fund the Bush**/PNAC war machine. Tax-free munis, from Blue cities, counties, states etc., only.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. I would not give it to any Republican candidates......

I wouldn't use it to buy jewels, fur coats or other "luxury" things.......

Hmmm.......it's hard to think of things I wouldn't do ..........

It's much easier to think of things I would do........

:shrug:

[bridgit]

14. never mind...

:rofl:

[Crabby Appleton]

15. spend $15 million on dance lessons

http://articles.news.aol.com/business/_a/banker-now-sees-154-million-lessons-as-a/20060803090209990017?cid=1712

[antigone382]

17. I would NOT open a bar or restaurant

Every single frickin' lottery winner thinks he/she can start a restaurant and not go broke. Not me. I would not buy a bunch'a fancy vehicles that would just sit in my driveway and rot...give me something sensible! Ditto for a McMansion, jewelry, expensive clothing, etc. I'd definitely make it a priority to spend my money responsibly and ethically. Basically, I wouldn't blow it on stupid crap I didn't need or really even want.

First, I would buy land and build an attractive, modestly sized, energy-efficient house, and facilities for my horses. I'd try to use local labor and supplies and pay them decently. Next, I'd help pay off debts of *immediate* family members, if I could do so without going totally broke. I'd set aside about $200,000 for my own education (maybe more, depending on how much education I eventually need). I'd set up some kind of responsible savings plan for most of it, hopefully including some trustfunds to help my cousins, nieces, nephews, etc. go to school, and to contribute to older family members' retirement. I'd try to invest in ethical companies, and smaller, local businesses. I'd definitely donate to Dems, and to worthy charities as well (Heifer International comes to mind). I might even set up some charities or grant programs of my own, if it was feasible.

And from there...we'll see.

(I just realized that I spent WAY more time talking about what I would do than what I wouldn't do...but whatev. I'm keeping it how it is).

[NNadir]

18. I would NOT change my lifestyle.

I would NOT invest very much in securities based in US currency.

[grannylib]

19. I would not go into the oil/coal/nuclear power biz. I would not work to

keep booze as the only legal non-prescription high. I would not buy season tickets to watch overpaid pro athletes. I would not spend money to send letters to magazines, whining about pictures of breast-feeding on the covers, when children are starving all over the world. I would not travel to four-star hotels. I would not go on cruises. I would not shop 5th Avenue nor the Champs Elysee.

[bertha katzenengel]

20. No press. No showing off. No McMansions. No new furniture (at

least not for ourselves). No parties. No overindulgence. No sprees.

Can't think of anything else. Too much good I want to do w/ it to think about what not to do, I guess.

[mwooldri]

22. Gamble it all away on one game of putt putt with Tiger Woods.

and it's not as if I'm actually any good at putt putt - I don't even play putt putt often. It's more likely our local putt putt course will eat the balls before either of us would win.

/Mark.

[philosophie_en_rose]

23. I would not buy a man whore.

:P

Sorry, Deuce.

:P

[ComerPerro]

24. all lottery winners say that

but none of them ever follow through.

Eventually, they all buy a man-whore.

[mad-mommy]

26. I would NOT through my kids a sweet sixteen million + $ bash !

[Nicole]

27. I would not buy expensive jewelery n/t

[Ghost in the Machine]

28. I would not buy green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I Am!

:rofl:

[Jamastiene]

34. I wouldn't stay in Rockingham, NC for starters.

The reason for that is like a broken record at this point. Most people know why. It's in a red state and it sucks here.

I also wouldn't try to buy a business of any kind. I have heard people who won lotteries and lost everything say that they lost most of it trying to succeed in a business they knew nothing about. Some of them even went into debt after winning a large sum of money, so I'll gladly take that advice.

Also, I wouldn't buy an extravagent house in a well-to-do neighborhood. I wouldn't jump to buy a home too fast either. I might not even buy an already built home. I definitely wouldn't buy a home with anything over 1,500 sq ft. I have learned to live in about 900 sq ft of space with an outbuilding. Anything larger than 1,500 sq ft would just run up the power bill and mess with my dream home plans anyhow.

[patricia92243]

36. I wouldn't try to be unselfish. :)

[Deep13]

37. Turn it into pennies and swim in it.

[RedCloud]

40. I would not place them in one long line across the USA...

Folks might accidentally run over them or accidentally take them!

[dorktv]

44. Not give it to George Bush to invest.

Otherwise I would not give it to anyone who did not also sing every opera ever written in order without a break.

That way no one could complain I did not give them money.