Showing posts with label gambling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gambling. Show all posts

Friday, February 5, 2010

Illegal Bad Habits

Some bad habits are not only illegal. They push the envelope of what can be considered merely bad habits. However, in a way they are bad habits. They are definitely bad, and they happen frequently enough to call them habits.

Serious fighting can be illegal bad habits. This is the kind of fighting that leads to assault arrests and convictions. People do not think before they act. Or, if they do, they only think angry, destructive thoughts. This fighting can cause injury or even death.

Some fighting happens in bars. Barroom fights are bad habits. Too many people are intoxicated. There are not enough reasonable people in the room to calm things down. There are also often shortages in bars.

There may be a shortage of available men, or of available women. There may not be enough places to sit. This causes animosity, which leads to fighting. Just being in a bar where fights are known to occur is sometimes a bad habit.

Some people, both men and women, have bad habits of domestic violence. They do not think twice about hitting their partner in the face on the way in the door. They have no compunctions about throwing their spouse on the floor, even if she is pregnant. Are these bad habits? Yes, they are the most extreme forms of bad habits.

There are illegal money transactions that are bad habits. There are many forms of illegal gambling. There are restrictions in every state about where gambling can take place. The kind of gambling is also regulated. Abiding by these rules will keep you out of jail. It will also keep you from losing money in a betting scam.

Shoplifting is an illegal bad habit that young people get hooked into before they even think about it. One day they are going to the store and trying on clothing to purchase. The next day, they are going to the store to see what they can stuff under their coats. This can give a young person a very bad start in life. It can also give them bad habits that are hard to break.

Sometimes, people who deal with other people's money decide to borrow a little for an emergency. They find out how easy it is, and they do it again and again. Eventually it becomes the bad habit known as embezzlement. This can land them in jail for years and cause them to pay restitution for the rest of their lives. It can also put the people they took the money from in a terrible situation.

Arson is not always a malicious act. It is not always a well thought out scheme to collect insurance money. Some arsonists simply have a bad habit of starting fires. They are obsessed with flames and torch buildings for their twisted pleasure. It is a bad habit that can cause incredible destruction.

Bad habits are more than just picking your nose. There are bad habits that can destroy property and ruin lives. It is these behaviors that society must work on.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Bad Habits Can Be Expensive

Bad habits can be very expensive to maintain. Never mind that they are annoying to others. Do not think about the pain you cause yourself, if you do not want to. Just remember that your bad habits are hitting you where it hurts-in your wallet.

Smoking has always been a bad habit to have. In past times, people smoked more cigarettes, but cigarettes were cheaper. Now, many people have cut down on the number of cigarettes they smoke per day. Yet, those few are more expensive now than the many were back then. That's accounting for inflation, too.

This is because lawmakers have seen fit to put large taxes on cigarettes. In many areas, the taxes are set to go up even higher. Some states are planning hikes of $10 per carton. If that will not stop you from smoking, what will?

Alcohol, too, is a bad habit that is subject to sin tax. It depends on how expensive your taste in alcohol is whether it will cost you more or less. Usually, most people will go to drinking less expensive alcohol as their dependency grows. However, it is not unusual for someone to go to a bar on a Friday night and spend their paycheck on alcohol.

Many people get into bad habits of taking prescription drugs when they have an injury, such as a back injury. They may be given muscle relaxants and strong pain relievers to get them through the first painful days. This is a reasonable medical response to their condition.

Yet, the medication helps them feel so good that they will want to get more. They may go back to the doctor to get more. If the doctor will not agree, they may go to different doctors to get different prescriptions. All these doctor visits and prescriptions usually come with a price tag. Then, when that no longer works, they will go to get their pain relief medications on the streets. It will cost even more to keep up their bad habits.

Of course, people who have bad habits with illegal drugs probably have some of the most expensive bad habits of all. Whether it is cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or methamphetamine, there are no cheap drugs. At least, there will not be an unlimited supply of cheap drugs. If a person truly has a bad habit with one of these drugs, they will always want more until they quit. The cost can get to be astronomical.

Gambling can lead people into financial hardship. Some people have such bad habits with gambling that they lose their houses and everything else they own. They may be in staggering debt on top of that. Now that there is online gambling, they cannot even get away from their bad habits by staying home.

Shopaholics spend money like there is no tomorrow. This bad habit can destroy a budget. It can take money away from things that need to be paid, like a mortgage or car payment.

It is clear that these bad habits are costly in the short run. Many of them are also costly over time, as health issues settle in. The cost of cigarettes is high, for example, but the cost of lung cancer is very much higher. Ridding yourself of these bad habits can only help your finances to get better.