The news that the B.C. Lottery Corp. has developed yet another new scheme to create millionaires should send shivers down the spines of all commonsense people.
A new lottery called Daily Grand, to be drawn on Mondays and Thursdays, offers a prize of $1,000 every day — weekends and holidays included — for the rest of the winner’s life.
Such lotteries contribute to the illusion that lots of money gives value to human life and that the pursuit of lots of money is a worthy goal in life.
These illusions are reinforced by economists who continually repeat the mantra that consumption is the true definition of both wealth and value.
Too late for many of us — as thousands discovered during the 2007-2009 recession — consumption results in overabundance and we learn that possessions can be more easily acquired than got rid of.
Money and the dominant economy it swirls around in is a creation of the human mind; it is not a positive response to life.
It has caused many to devalue clean air and water, healthy food, meaningful friendships, and vibrant, diverse communities.
Canada already has about 5,000 people with $30 million or more in wealth that control a total of more than $700 billion in assets.
A 2015 Credit Suisse report shows 984,000 Canadian millionaires, and 1.5 million 1-percenters, or those with at least $760,000 (U.S.) in assets.
Last month, Environics Analytics named Vancouver as Canada’s first “city of millionaires” with the average household net worth hitting $1,036,202. The leader of that analysis said: “It’s basically only real estate that’s fuelling growth in Vancouver.”
Creating more millionaires is unsustainable and will bankrupt the planet that has given us life, a fact too often forgotten in the chase for the almighty dollar.
Michael Jessen
Longbeach