From: mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Subject: Re: Lots of new millionairs
Distribution: world
X-NewsSoftware: GRn 1.16f (beta) by Mike Schwartz & Michael B. Smith
Date: 15 Aug 92 19:16:23 PST
Organization: Amiga makes it possible

In article <1992Aug15.230535.1450@zia.aoc.nrao.edu> gmartin@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (George Martin) writes:
> In article <mykes.0cb4@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG> mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes:
> >IMO, too much emphasis is placed on the fact that the number of millionairs
> >increased from 4,000-6000 to 64,000 during the 80's.  I can come up with
> >ONE blatant and obvious way that a significant number of them became millionairs.
> >And you can't blame it on Reaganomics or the S&L crooks or anything like that :)
> >
> >Consider the state lotteries...  If 10 states gave away $1,000,000 per week for
> >10 years, the lottery would have made 5,200 new millionairs.  Here in California,
> >there are several weekly lotteries that can make a person a millionaire.  And
> >often, there are big prize lotteries that have multiple winners (share millions).
> >
> >Could it be that as many as 1/4 of those new millionairs are lotto winners? :)
>
> There is also Publishers Clearing House and the like.  But yet...
>
> I don't know how the California lottery works and New Mexico does not
> have one.  But I have always thought that in at least some cases, one
> does not actually win the lump sum, but rather one wins an annuity which
> pays out periodically some amount until the number of payments times
> the amount equals the prize.  It could take a number of years for the
> full pay off.  Does such a situation make one a millionaire for statistical

If you have an annuity, it is an asset and makes you a millionaire.  You can
borrow the full million (or close to it) and assign your payments to the person
who loans you the money...  Or you could use the income to qualify you to buy
a mansion, etc.

> counting purposes?  If I would win the Publishers Clearing House "million"
> I would definitely not quit my job;  at least not until investments
> derived from their annual $25,000.00 check paid an annual dividend

More likely, it is a 20 year payoff.  Take the $1,000,000 or $10,000,000
and divide by 20 to get your $50K per year or $500K per year payments...

Also, most big lottery prizes are more than $1Mil...

> greater than my current salary plus expectations of raises.  (All of
> you must have received one or more mailings from PCH.  Have you ever
> read all of their "fine print" before tossing the stamps etc.?)
>
> It was also my thought that those big multi million dollar lotteries
> were roll over monies from previous lotteries in which no one won the
> big prize.
>
> You made an interesting and valid speculation but since I don't have
> any information one way or the other I would doubt that state lotteries
> inflated the ranks of the millionaires.  One would think that _USA Today_
> would keep a "box score" on the various state lotteries.  Does it?
> I wouldn't know.
>

If you win a million bucks, you are a millionaire, no matter how you look
at it.  The question in my mind is the 64,000 millionaires a count of people
with $1Mil+ in assets, or income for one year :)

> One other source of "instant" millionaires are the winners of
> lawsuits which have ridiculous payments.

I don't read about many multimillion (or even $1Mil) lawsuits...  From the
lawyer ads on TV, most of the testimony indicates $250K sized settlements.
The big money is in patent and copyright infringement and class action
suits.

> --
> George Martin
> Systems Analyst                     NRAO/VLA                  Socorro NM
> Internet: gmartin@something.aoc.nrao.edu
> "Skating away on the thin ice of the new day."  (Ian Anderson)

--
Amiga programmer of: GRn, MailMinder, Budokan, Beyond Dark Castle, Dark Castle
Sega Genesis programmer of: Dick Tracy and Marble Madness.
Mike Schwartz  (ames!zorch!amiga0!mykes or mykes@amiga0.sf-bay.org)
1124 Fremont Ave.
Los Altos, CA 94024