John Stossel - Government's Gambling Hypocrisy

[DoelGr]

man i cant believe it...its like the whole world is the same,the same think is hapening in my country(greece)...and imagine that 96-97-98 was the years that there was this raise of gambling scandals and people got arested these days,cops looking for the evil crime...lol...ofc in greece thinks are tough no vegas...i dont gamble but this situation sucks,stossel speaks up for many thinks that if u spoke here you would be bearnt alive...by comunists!!(im kidding)wow yeah and public tracks...lol

[videomakerman1232]

Gambling's okay. 

[seppsters]

Many PC / Console games for children are 100x more addictive than slotmachines or casino games, and people can lose much more money with them.

[Jebusrulez]

Thanks to the government's crack down on internet gambling, I was introduced to libertarianism. Always a ray of sunshine out there I guess.

[ned262626]

gambling is a sin

[fzqlcs]

@ned262626 it may be to you, but to me, hypocrisy is the greater evil.

[hempsteadeagle]

Only in America the Chinese "Communist" can eat at the White house. Libertarian are the "ONLY SENSIBLE PEOPLE ON EARTH"

[wthjrtx1]

Look what it took to run Meyers Lansky out of Havana. The mob would have become more powerful than any government.

Castro and communism. Yeah right...LOL

[CmdrTobs]

Hey hey hey..... Liberals are the ones now trying to limit gambling? That has been religious Conservative dogma forever. Progressive liberals have always been for decriminalising these things along with drugs.... It cracks me up when I see this new wave of conservatives that have managed to escape religious brain washing saying the same thing liberalism has always logically advocated, then now reverse course and brand their old policies liberal! what next?! Prohibition will be called liberal!

[TheLegalImmigrant05]

Ten stars.

[marinemom744]

wow, not one down vote so far. guess we all agree, gambling is bad bad bad, lmao.

[panther9mm]

If the odds were any better, the government would lose money with the lottery. 

[CurtHowland]

Land of the Free.

.

...unless you want to do something that competes with the government.

[magichandpuppet]

Poker is too much competition to the Wall Street Casino... which will not be tolerated by the fascist state! If you want to gamble, you better do it so that the owners of politicians get to take confiscate your buying power. Soon, saving money might become illegal as well.

[97Wildfire]

The state will always justify itself by claiming they use the revenue from the lottery to benefit society as if to say people who run and work at private casinos don't use their earnings to feed their families and put their kids through college. Someone once explained to me that "the lottery is tax on people who are bad at math."

[d0861]

You da man, Stossel.

[kamikazee55]

There's only two jobs in America where you get to fuck the guy paying you: Prostitution and Law Enforcement.

One is voluntary, one uses force. You cannot use "Oh, I was just doing my job" as a justification for your actions. What if a hitman tried to pull that? Police officers KNOWINGLY support and uphold unconstitutional and immoral laws. They oughta be crucified for what they do.

[MoneyIsSilver]

@kamikazee55 LMAO... @ "There's only two jobs in America where you get to fuck the guy paying you: Prostitution and Law Enforcement"

That is fuckin classic my friend!

[redsox1006]

@kamikazee55 the police just inforce the laws that are created by the government, they are not to blame for these anti-gambling laws, the government is

[kamikazee55]

@redsox1006 They are not the source of the problem but they enforce it. Equally as immoral as the people who create the laws. They deserve to die. You can't justify doing something just because it's your job. U.S. laws are straight up wrong, and anyone that enforces them is voting that they support them. Mother fucking cops are willing to hurt citizens just to get a fucking pay check. It's fucking disgusting.

[redsox1006]

@kamikazee55 would you prefer them to just ignore the law and not enforce it? because then they would all lose their jobs, and what a great world it would be with no cops...

[kamikazee55]

@redsox1006 Yes. Firstly, if people wouldn't enforce the law, it would probably get changed. And it would be a better world. And you cant justify doing something immoral just because things could possibly be worse.

[KladionicaCity]

@redsox1006 If they truly are to serve the people,when a law is passed they feel unjust ,they should be the firsts to riot against if they have some honor left.The same thing if you're a hitman for a boss.Do you think the ˝i was just doing my job˝ would held in court in that case?They need to speak out for themselves and assume responsibility so people would start consider them as fellow citizens rather than just as tools of the master.

[SuperGuitarman69]

Liberal= Tyranny, when are you idiot leftist going to get that?

[RatkoUSA]

The government is a criminal organization .

[amindbody]

thanks for sharing.

an unconstitutional government is an illegal government.

[1x93cm]

the gov't want's their cut

that's it

[whoo689]

I find it funny how many people in this country STILL have such a "moral" problem with gambling! come on! If you play your cards right and do it responsibly, it's pretty harmless fun. So some people get addicted. ANYTHING as popular as gambling or as fun can be addictive to some folks.

And what IS the "moral case" against gambling? If you ask me, it's one of the most TRUE free market activities! You always consent, you take only the risk you want/can afford, have to pay up if you lose, etc.

[whoo689]

There's no redistributionist program from the welfare state designed to give folks money they gambled away. They take all the risk. Gambling can be for fun or competitive. You'd think the so-called "conservatives" who say they like the free market so much wouldn't have a problem with it. But this antipathy is more common than some think. Did you know Ohio hasn't even had legalized casino operation for more than a few years? Some ballot initiative a year or 2 ago finally passed for it.

[whoo689]

There's no artificial leg up given to certain players.  You can only play poker with the skill you have, unlike Republican/Democratic corporatism in the FULL market which gives a phony advantage to certain favored industries or businesses.

[whoo689]

There's nothing I hate more than victimless crime laws. If you ask me, maybe each state should put in their constitutions the phrase, "Only violent acts which coerce or harm innocent bystanders can be defined as crimes"? Of course, the chances of that happening are slim to none. The moralists LOVE feeling righteous about this shit, and their allies in law enforcement don't wanna give up this extra authority and warm, fuzzy feelings like they're "actually making a difference."

[whoo689]

Lotteries, great. Another way to redistribute millions of hard-earned tax dollars to folks who obviously haven't earned them, rather than spend the money on ACTUAL necessary services. What a scam. Maybe Ron Paul should also put the sign, "Don't privately gamble. The gov't wants you to waste money on THEIR scam instead " on his desk?

[ProudConservative2]

Hey, you can't have a gambling casino unless you are the mob or have a drop of native American blood...or... you are the govt!!! They hate competition! LOL

[032125]

Government is a racket.

[ConspectuMortis]

Vices are a punishment within itself, and completely consensual. Makes sense that's most are illegal, right? Ugh

[Illumified]

The Gambling there doing with the value of our currency is much more dangerous if you ask me, I really dont care what stupid or poor ppl do with there own money.

[ErikS1975FreeState]

As a Liberal Libertarian I believe that people have the right to live their lives as they see fit as long as their not hurting anyone else including Gambling. Government's role is protect people from hurting someone else not themselves, their not the peoples parents. They shouldn't be telling someone that they can't do something with their own money & wind up doing the same thing with Tax Payer money like State Lottery's. Gambling has proven to be something thats better regulated not illegal.

[KladionicaCity]

What is even more hypocritical is that you can bet on all kinds of futures on Wall Street.But of course they call it ˝trading˝ not gambling.

[strongbadXCP]

@KladionicaCity I thumbs uped your comment in spirit, but in reality, futures trading plays an important economic role in allowing commodity producers to hedge themselves and providing price discovery in the market. So its not exactly comparable, but there is still no reason to ban "real" gambling either.

[KladionicaCity]

@strongbadXCP But futures are not always about products and commodities .For example as of lately you could bet on Greece default.So you have banks (also the same banks who bailout in the first place) betting ,thus pushing Greece for defaulting.

[strongbadXCP]

@KladionicaCity That is a credit default swap, not a futures contract.

[KladionicaCity]

@strongbadXCP Oh,i guess you're right,my bad.I saw that on CNBC some week ago and i swear i heard they sad it was a future.

[Thill029]

gambling.. another state monopoly whats new?

[usgop]

"They don't prevent us from smoking or drinking in our home" In a nutshell..the government can't get a cut so it is illegal except in casino's and the lottery. They get their cut when you buy the cigs and alcohol.

[DougShatter]

My friends and I call the lottery "The Poverty Tax."

[amalwaysawsome]

@DougShatter Hahaha!!!

[Cornampoo]

@DougShatter how about "a tax on the mathematically challenged"? :)

[theanduo]

Great reason for the government to end prohibition in 1933, they wanted their cut!

If you have heard of the proposed soda tax- imagine a corn subsidy on the bottom with the corn syrup and then taxes on the top to even it out!

[joshpnw]

The states have a bigger more powerful gang to protect their rackets.

[ipwnallnubscuzirock]

I love the state lottery bit.

[selfrealizedexile]

Only the gov't could lose money as a bookie. Hilarious...

[KladionicaCity]

government = mafia

[woodsofodin]

@KladionicaCity Beat me tot the punch on this one, though I was going to say extortion racket. , but yes