New York State Stuck on Stupid

Apparently Gov. Dave Paterson isn’t the only blind one running things up in Albany. According to Bloomberg, the New York Lottery is proposing to move its $1.3 billion prize fund into investments such as stocks, corporate bonds, real estate and hedge funds and out of the safety of U.S. Treasuries.

Wait, it gets even better. “New York would be the first state lottery among the 20 largest to shift to pension fund-style investments.” You know, because that’s working out oh so well as underfunded and overgenerous pensions across the country teeter on the brink, threatening to make things even worse for those of us who, unlike government employees, actually work for a living and suffer immediately for foolish financial transactions. (Do a search on Instapundit for pensions and you’ll get a raft of bad news.)

But I guess I shouldn’t expect more from New York State, which is probably only second to California in its inability or unwillingness to comprehend fiscal reality and where at the government is doing its damnedest to set up a plantation system in which it and its employees are the master’s family and the private sector is just the help. Of course, we also know how well California is doing as the state goes broke, businesses continue to flee the high taxes and ludicrous legislation imposed by the masters and the state gets set to release 58,000 prisoners onto the streets.

I have an even better idea. Why not go all in and put the MTA in charge of the lottery funds?

Better yet, considering the state of the stock market recently, why not just reinvest all the New York State Lottery in MegaMillions and Powerball tickets?

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