I'm always amused by pokie venues trumpeting how much they donate to the community, just remind me again where all that money came from in the first place.

My wife has always been a somewhat distant supporter, will go to the odd game with me, but not very interested. If asked who she supports will say Carlton, but doesn't really care much, just says the Blues 'cos they're my team. She's always had a bit of a soft spot for the Roos, after reading the pokies article and now realising the Roos don't have pokies she's jumped ship. Gee I'm going to miss her!

The poor are often known to be foolish with money, it's part of the reason they become poor. People aren't rational optimisers.

Get rid of pokies and people will find other ways to do their dough. Granted, it might be a more aesthetically interesting way, like racing, cards or numbers rackets.

I think gambling should be legal, regulated and taxed, as should drugs by the way. Advertising (specifically sports betting) should be restricted though

Lets close down all TABs.
SP Bookies would love it.

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The problem with Socialism is, you eventually run out of other people's money.

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The problem with Socialism is, you eventually run out of other people's money.

Wow.

Just....wow

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Do you disagree KK?

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

Yes

As a generalisation, yes. It's a stunningly sweeping statement to make.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

I wonder what the reason is there are so many more "foolish" people around these days compared to say... 1976?

Watch this awesome bit of graphical interpretation of wealth data...

http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2?g=6

There's no doubt that some people end up poor due to bad decisions they've made during their lives but there are that many more living in poverty for systemic reasons it's not funny. When you're born into a country with a wealth distribution curve like that it's not easy to make your way up from the bottom. And don't even think about how you'd do it from a country like Malawi where it's pretty much all bottom.

That video was about the US but our country's on the same path albeit at a slightly slower rate.

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb