# One-Step solutions to fixing the economy **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 8, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-solutions-to-fixing-the-economy/591997 "2011-08-08T21:48:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![humanafterall](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/humanafterall/32/19654_2.png) [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-solutions-to-fixing-the-economy/591997/1 "2011-08-08T21:48:54Z")
you know, I like Cracked. com. they have a lot of no-nonsense solutions and I love them. [This is what I’m talking about.](http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_233_one-step-solutions-to-fixing-economy/) My fav idea is the (Music Industry Swear Jar) ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-solutions-to-fixing-the-economy/591997/2 "2011-08-08T22:55:10Z")
Forget about the US economy, just imagine how much SDMB could make with the winning idea. Category 21 would make us a fortune! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-solutions-to-fixing-the-economy/591997/3 "2011-08-09T00:39:35Z")
The only problem with the contest is that the rules disallowed entries that wanted to legalize and tax pot…which actually would help the economy quite a bit. Lower prison costs, higher tax revenues etc. Maybe they were hoping for more fanciful ideas, not ones that might work. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-solutions-to-fixing-the-economy/591997/4 "2011-08-09T02:58:06Z")
Half of them I don’t even understand, such as the one with the Powerball ticket. I’ve no idea how lottery tickets works or what the numbers mean. (Which could be something to brag about, I suppose.) ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-solutions-to-fixing-the-economy/591997/5 "2011-08-09T06:28:18Z")
It’s saying the government should buy a lottery ticket. Or a bunch of them! Then when it wins big they can pay off the debt. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-solutions-to-fixing-the-economy/591997/6 "2011-08-09T08:35:01Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > It’s saying the government should buy a lottery ticket. Or a bunch of them! Then when it wins big they can pay off the debt. Huh. I thought they were saying that everyone should be forced to play the lottery. Those are huge moneymakers–for the people who host them. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-solutions-to-fixing-the-economy/591997/7 "2011-08-09T13:43:55Z")
The joke with the lottery entry is that each play area only has five numbers to select from, which is the same number of balls that are drawn for the Powerball. If those tickets were on sale, everyone who played would win. Everyone’s a millionaire = improved economy! Of course, the current Powerball jackpot is $220 million, and the U.S. population as of last year’s census was 308,745,538, so that’d work out to about 71 cents per winner…but hey, every little bit helps, right? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-solutions-to-fixing-the-economy/591997/8 "2011-08-10T02:52:25Z")
[QUOTE= elfkin477] The only problem with the contest is that the rules disallowed entries that wanted to legalize and tax pot…which actually would help the economy quite a bit. Lower prison costs, higher tax revenues etc. Maybe they were hoping for more fanciful ideas, not ones that might work. [/QUOTE] [Maybe they worried that all the arguments would sound like this.](http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-pro-marijuana-arguments-that-arent-helping/) [Or maybe like this.](http://www.cracked.com/funny-1137-is-legalizing-marijuana-good-idea/) ---
**Author:** ![iftheresaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@iftheresaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iftheresaway)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-solutions-to-fixing-the-economy/591997/9 "2011-08-10T05:59:22Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > Forget about the US economy, just imagine how much SDMB could make with the winning idea. > > Category 21 would make us a fortune! Forget about the economy, the winning idea would solve the internet.