Golden Ticket

 How much do you suppose Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory would go for on today's market? The minimal research I did to estimate the yearly cost to run the place came in around two hundred million dollars a year. This estimate includes a salary and heathcare plan for the Oompa Loompas who rightly control the means of production, That alone runs in the neighborhood of eighty million a year, which obviously brings up the question of fair compensation for tiny chocolatiers and just what amounts to a living wage for what I had assumed was essentially slave labor. And does Mister Wonka really need to keep that chocolate river running twenty-four/seven?

I started ruminating on this when I read that one ticket was selected to win the one point eight billion dollar Powerball jackpot last week. This grand prize was projected to pay off at eight hundred thirty-four million. 

An interesting thing, this taxing of brand new billionaires. If I'm doing the math correctly, I notice that the government is getting more than half of the jackpot, which reminds me of the chorus of "what abouts" that surround every major financial windfall. Oh sure, I could love to win a couple billion dollars, but "what about the taxes?"

Elongated Mush would have a fit, not to be confused with his regularly scheduled fits, if he had to pay more than fifty percent of his earnings in taxes. This also suggests that he might make an excellent candidate for taking over the Wonka enterprise if his limited capacity for imagination would allow him to accept a world of pure imagination. Jeff Bezos also has some experience running business with minimally compensated labor, so he might also be a good candidate. 

But now we are left to ponder just what this lone new nearly-billionaire will do with the fortune they have just fallen into. Perhaps instead of taking over a chocolate factory, they might like to buy the world a Coke. That one-shot bit of altruism would cost you nearly ten billion dollars. Back in 1971 when the cola giant set that notion afloat, the commercial they made cost a quarter of a million dollars just to get those fresh-faced hippies up on that hill to sing in perfect harmony. 

It's nice not to have the worries that all that money brings.