Althouse: "My very first thought was I always wanted a horse, so I get a horse now."

January 15, 2016

"My very first thought was I always wanted a horse, so I get a horse now."

Says the daughter of one of the Powerball winners, whose troubles now begin.

30 comments:

traditionalguy said...: She needs a Derby winner's foal. What's a half million or so to her. (N.B. Red Neck Values); 1/15/16, 9:29 AM
Henry said...: And a boat. She needs to ride her pony on her boat.; 1/15/16, 9:50 AM
Oso Negro said...: Good God, Althouse. We are to spend 12 minutes of our lives watching this?; 1/15/16, 9:52 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Just watch up to 4:01.; 1/15/16, 9:54 AM
eric said...: Very dangerous.

I realize that most states won't let you stay anonymous once you've won the lottery, but if you have children, you need to move immediately, change your name, and tell no one in your new home you've won.

This girl and her family are playing with fire.; 1/15/16, 10:02 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Actually, I suspect the title is ironic and she's an agent for the parents.; 1/15/16, 10:03 AM
Cheryl said...: Of all the things she could want, a horse might be great. As long as the parents buy something she can actually ride (maybe a 15 year old kind schoolmaster) and as long as she has a huge part in taking care of him, this might be exactly the thing to keep her grounded. They'd be best off leasing one first, but in the scheme of things that's a pretty good "want." (Says the lady who just got done mucking out ten stalls and feeding 30 horses in the 40-degree pouring rain.); 1/15/16, 10:23 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: After establishing my foundation, etc, my splurge purchase after I won with my single $2 ticket was going to be a property with room for a horse or two. I rode when I was a girl and they are still my favorite animals, but too expensive and time consuming for a middle class lifestyle. I hope she has fun.

See also: The Simpsons, season 3, episode 8, "Lisa's Pony"; 1/15/16, 10:26 AM
rhhardin said...: The way to avoid trouble being newly rich is don't spend any of it. It's backup money so you don't have to live by kissing asses instead of being useful.

You get to do what the company claims to do instead of what it in fact does, where you work.; 1/15/16, 10:28 AM
Michael said...: Item one upon winning: Hire traditionalguy. Pay him one million dollars up front to aid you in keeping you anonymous. He gets to go to NY to be on the Today show. He gets the nice hotel suite. You stay home and you stay quiet. Trad guy will fix it so your own children, especially your own children, do not know you won the lottery.

Item two upon winning: Hire traditionalguy. to help you allocate winnings among three or four money managers of the very top rank.

Item three upon winning: Hire traditionalguy to make it impossible for you to touch 3/4 of the money for 15 years and then only half of the 3/4

Item four upon winning: Make that one million dollars a year to traditionalguy to keep you from driving off the cliff.; 1/15/16, 10:29 AM
Sydney said...: If you can, it is best to keep your winnings secret. There are only two infinite resources in this world- other people's money and other people's time.; 1/15/16, 10:30 AM
Tank said...: Me too. I want a horse too. Had a great ride yesterday in NJ. My ride managed to poop twice in one hour (he has me trained to clean up). Taking care of a horse isn't bad experience either. Nor is going through the normal life cycle.

==================================

Most of the riders at my stable are young ladies, about 5 to 20 years old. They're all better riders than me, and I can actually ride a bit.

==============================

I like what Seinfeld says about when his kid asked him if they were rich: "I'm rich, your not."; 1/15/16, 11:25 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: Usually, I never participate in lotteries. When the prize reached $800 million, however, I gave $10 to an office pool.

Our pool did not win the $800 million, and I did not buy any more tickets. However, our office pool did win a few dollars that was re-invested to buy one ticket for the next drawing for $1.3 billion.

If that last ticket had won, then I wonder if I would have received a share of the prize. Perhaps I would have been excluded because I did not give any money for that following purchase of tickets.

I usually am not litigious, but I would have sued for my share of the $1.3 billion.; 1/15/16, 11:36 AM
rhhardin said...: _Bandit_, Vicki Hearne, p.205, on women and horses:

For example, I was once involved in a panel discussion at which the idea was voiced and elaborated that riding horses was a good way for girls to prepare for marriage because it gave them practice controlling something powerful and dangerous between their legs. I thought, and at enormous risk of self- exposure said, that controlling something powerful and dangerous between my legs didn't characterize either marriage or horsemanship as I had experienced them. It is true that some activities that fall under the heading ``sex'' can be dangerous, but before AIDS it was the thing the man sometimes had in his hand, and not the thing between his legs, that was worrisome. And there are some differences between husbands and horses that I thought worthy of consideration, including the fact that in the case of husbands direct mutual genital contact is to the point, whereas it interferes with horsemanship. I don't doubt that it is possible, only that it is horsemanship.

``The persons propounding the P&D Between Your Legs theory were both male shrinks, and Lord knows what they made of me, given their experience of horses and other things between their legs.

``I am sorry to speak so crudely. There are many men of subtle and strong hearts and intellects who quite easily distinguish between horses and penises..

Vicki Hearne, _Bandit_, p.205; 1/15/16, 11:41 AM
RichardJohnson said...: One of my cousins requested and got a horse from her parents. She took care of the horse as a child, and has kept a horse for all of her adulthood.; 1/15/16, 12:22 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: I thought this posting implied the girl in the video - Raleigh - was the child of the lottery winners. Am I the only one that read the posting that way?
But the winners' daughter's name is Tiffany (the only thing that seems unlikable about the really nice couple that won is that they named their daughter Tiffany). This is good excuse to get it changed.; 1/15/16, 12:32 PM
Etienne said...: Al Capone is rolling over in his grave. He could only dream of a numbers racket pulling-in that kind of cash.

And what does the government do with it? They piss it away. Nothing to show for it even 6-months later.; 1/15/16, 12:33 PM
Sigivald said...: As problems go, "owning a horse when you have 30 years worth of millions a year coming in" is pretty minor.; 1/15/16, 12:46 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/15/16, 1:00 PM
Seeing Red said...: With today's society, the families would have been outed. I bought tickets, too, and discussed the what ifs. Everything needs to be in place including security and a PR person before you claim the ticket with this kind of money.; 1/15/16, 1:22 PM
prairie wind said...: I immediately regretted buying a ticket when my son was with me. He would benefit, of course, if I ever win, but I ought to have all my ducks in a row before letting the kids know that I had that much money. Stop trouble before it starts.; 1/15/16, 1:34 PM
FullMoon said...: I told my neighbor I would pay off his mortgage if I won......and he could pay me back later.; 1/15/16, 1:59 PM
jimbino said...: Participation in lotteries, casinos and insurance being a mark of ignorance, it's surprising that anyone, even a winner, comes forward to admit it.; 1/15/16, 2:13 PM
David said...: Actually a fairly sensible girl. She going to need all the sense she can muster.; 1/15/16, 2:16 PM
Etienne said...: I was just wondering how many losing lottery tickets are recycled? It seems like a great opportunity for hackers to design something better.

For example an electronic disc that is loaded with your picks at the store, or over the internet. Maybe it could hold 100 picks for each disk. Then when the lottery ends, you reload it for the next go.

It seems sad to cut down the Amazon rain forest, and then to just throw the paper into the landfill. At least make toilet paper out of it!

I think about these things...; 1/15/16, 2:37 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: She must be the whitest person in the universe. I'm talking about her complexion. Jesus Christ on a surfboard, is she ever white. Althouse looks positively Mediterranean next to her.; 1/15/16, 3:29 PM
JAORE said...: 'Al Capone is rolling over in his grave. He could only dream of a numbers racket pulling-in that kind of cash.

And what does the government do with it? They piss it away. Nothing to show for it even 6-months later.'

Worse in Illinois. They keep selling them. But don't have the funds to pay the winners "until later".

I'm good with numbers. I know the odds. But I play the lotto from time to time. A buck or two is pretty trivial at this time of my life. And it provides the only one of m fantasies pre-approved by my wife.; 1/15/16, 3:57 PM
Testing said...: jimbino: beware of displaying your own ignorance. At some level, expected value of the lottery exceeds the cost and a rational actor would be willing to buy a ticket. Are you sure you're good at math?; 1/15/16, 4:04 PM
JAORE said...: Yeah, Testing. The value exceeded the cost of every possible number this time. But then 3 winning tickets were sold and the tax man followed close behind.

Still the cheapest fantasy I have and the value of that exceeds the cost when I bother to play.; 1/15/16, 6:02 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: At some level, expected value of the lottery exceeds the cost and a rational actor would be willing to buy a ticket. Are you sure you're good at math?

As big as this jackpot was, it wasn't even close to being +EV. After the lump sum discount and taxes, and factoring in the likelihood of sharing the jackpot (85% of all possible combinations were taken), the payout was less than $2. I would be very surprised to find a +EV state lottery ticket has ever been sold in the US.; 1/15/16, 8:03 PM