(MintPress) – As the estimated $640 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot captivated the imaginations of Americans across the nation dreaming of fiscal prosperity, the United States House of Representatives opened up a budgetary debate on Wednesday in hopes of combating trillion-dollar deficits.
While spending on health care demands and national defense consume almost half of the total US budget, cuts to education and social safety nets are being felt on both federal and state levels. So with the current spending patterns laid out in the US budget, how would $540 million be divided? And what social shortfalls could that money make up for?
Recently, the state of Illinois ran out of a particular need-based grant for college students after demand skyrocketed. And in 2011, Athens County in Ohio reported a 58 percent rise in homelessness over a two-year span. The latest poverty study, done in 2010 by the US Census Bureau, showed 15.1 percent of Americans living below the federal poverty line.
Using figures for federal budget spending for fiscal year 2013, the division of appropriation of the $640 million would be divided almost evenly between three main budget sectors. Both health care and national defense would take $153.6 million, as those sectors each consume 24 percent of the federal budget. Health care and national defense would eat at $307.2 million of the jackpot. Add on social security/pensions and you accrue another $147.2 million, bringing the total to $454.4 million of the $640 million total.
Education would see roughly $19.2 million, or 3 percent, compared to percentages for national defense (24 percent), health care (24 percent) and pensions (23 percent). Transportation infrastructure would also see around $19.2 million while scientific and medical research would be allotted around $12.8 million, or 2 percent.
Much of the remaining budget is made up of small-percentage segments that deal with everyday living and social well-being. With that, how would that $640 million seen in the Mega Millions jackpot help aspects of education, infrastructure and other social safety nets.
What a jackpot could do for society
- As some members of Congress threaten to cut federal Pell Grants that are given to college students from low-income backgrounds, $640 million reinvested back into the Pell Grant program could be remarkably beneficial. In 2011, the average Pell Grant award was $3,984. If distributed evenly at that rate, 160,642 eligible students in need would benefit from the grants.
- According to Reed Construction Data, the cost to build a 45,000 square-foot elementary school is around $6 million. Friday’s jackpot total could be the means for 106 new elementary schools.
- Within the prison system, the average cost to house a prisoner in California is slightly more than $47,000, according to 2009 estimates by the state. To educate a prisoner through correctional education, an average of $3,000 is needed. The potential winnings could open up correctional education options for 12,800 inmates. According to The Justice Center, that investment on top of the incarceration cost helps prevent reoccurring crimes.
- “One million dollars spent on correctional education prevents about 600 crimes, while that same money invested in incarceration prevents 350 crimes. Correctional education is almost twice as cost-effective as a crime control policy,” according to the center.
- As potholes and poor road conditions plague drivers across the US, states are struggling to allot appropriate levels to transportation departments for repairs. With the average cost to resurface a road with asphalt at $50,000 according to The Fiscal Times, the winnings could resurface 12,800 miles of road, or 75 percent of all the roads in New Hampshire.
- And at an average price of $150 per repair according to the Virginia Department of Transportation, 4,266,666 potholes could be filled.
- Currently, 17.1 percent of Americans are without health insurance during a time when the government spends nearly a quarter of its annual budget on health care. While many variables go into health insurance costs, the average policy cost for a single person can be estimated around $5,000. Investing the jackpot’s worth of money would give 128,000 people health care coverage for one year, or 4,266 people health insurance for 30 years.
- The cost of a “New Flyer Xcelsior XDE40,” or a commonly used mass transportation bus in metro areas is roughly $571,700, meaning the jackpot could purchase 1,119 new busses for cities across America.
- Foreclosed properties that are real estate owned (REO) or bank owned average $190,000 on the market, meaning the winner of the jackpot could buy back 3,368 homes for families.
- At varying degrees of cost, $640 million could feed around 3,500 families of four for more than 15 years.
A history of winners
Lottery winnings come in varied amounts, from a $1 scratch-off to the current record-breaking Mega Millions jackpot. But when someone hits the big jackpot, they seem just as likely to live a quiet life of luxury than they are to tailspin out of control. And despite whatever amount of money is won, it is never a guarantee that someone will donate any of it.
“People” magazine profiled a family from Oregon that, at the time in 2006, had won the largest Powerball jackpot of $340 million (the family took the one-time $164 million payout). The family did what a lot of people say they would after winning the lottery: they bought new cars, new homes and traveled extensively. They spent $200,000 on cars and a segway and $40,000 on a private greenhouse. They spent around $4 million on life improvements and put the rest into investments.
Not all jackpot winners can claim a drama-free lifestyle after collecting their winnings. In 1988, Pennsylvania man William Post $16.2 million state lottery game, but later in life says he wish it had never happened. Post was sued by a former girlfriend and his brother hired a hitman with the hopes of inheriting his brother’s winnings. After investing in a failed business, Post found himself $1 million in debt.
There are some successful donation stories, however. In 2011 in Connecticut, three people split a $254 million jackpot and subsequently gave $1 million to five different organizations that supported military members who were returning from deployment. The group said they hoped their donating ways would encourage other lottery winners to do so as well.
Source: MintPress