One of the most popular shows on television in recently has been Deal or No Deal with Howie Mandel. I'm not really one to watch the primetime gameshow type television shows, but my roommate and several of our friends who happen to come over for dinner from time to time like to watch it, so I've slowly become used to watching it. I decided to write about this gameshow tonight as I'm sitting here watching it, and every time that I watch it, I get more and more irritated with the greedy people who end up on it. For those of you who aren't familiar with the game, I guess I should probably explain a little bit about how it works to you. You see, what happens is, people get chosen from the studio audience to come up on stage and play their luck at picking a briefcase that has a one million dollar amount in it. After the contestant chooses the case they think has one million dollars, they must then choose, one by one, more cases holding other amounts between one cent and the one million dollars...after which a banker calculates the probability of their case holding the one million dollars and offers them an amount to get them to "make a deal" and go home. The problem with the show, as I've stated above, is that people just get so ridiculously greedy when they start choosing their cases. I guess maybe it might be because I'm just a poor graduate school, but when the banker calls and offers me thirty thousand dollars (or some other amount with several zeroes added on to the end of it) just for choosing five briefcases, I would probably have to take the deal.

In the weeks that I've watched Deal or No Deal, I have seen plenty of greedy people making really poor decisions on this show. A lot of people let the prospect of getting one million dollars go their heads, and I've seen people get up to offers from the banker over two hundred thousand dollars who have then turned them down and then ended up with two or three thousand dollars in the end...all because of greed (and maybe some stupidity). So, riddle me this, what would you do when the banker offers you several thousand dollars on a game show when you have the opportunity of getting one million dollars if you can conquer crazy odds. I mean, what is it...twenty-eight cases or something like that? You end up having to beat those kinds of odds many times over in order to keep raising the offer from the banker and ultimately end up with the one million dollars in the briefcase that you chose right off the bat. Heck, I would take five hundred dollars if I had the opportunity. My credit card bill could sure use a payment like that right about now.

So anyways, maybe I'm one of the only ones who sits here in the evening, trying to relax, and ends up watching these not-so-intelligent people making fools of themselves by turning down large sums of money in hopes that their single briefcase is holding one million dollars. Hold up, I've got to calculate the actually percentage of one out of twenty-eight...ok...that's a three and half percent chance of the briefcase that you choose first holding the one million dollars. I guess what makes it worse is the fact that in the end, you're going to have to pay capital gains on whatever the amount of money it is that you win. Capital gains (as far as I know) can be roundabouts forty-five percent of the total amount that you win. So, that means even if you win a one million dollar amount, you will really only end up with somewhere around sixty-five thousand dollars after taxes. Maybe it's this idea in peoples' head that motivates them to continue to strive for higher and higher amounts. I guess I'm just torn. Maybe the adrenaline just gets pumping through your veins when you get on shows like this. Maybe your brain just can't help itself.

Well, I'm pretty anxious to hear what all of you have to say after my rant about Deal or No Deal. I suppose that this is just another one of those examples where I tend to think conservatively about money...go figure. So, why don't you all drop me a line and tell me what you'd do in this situation. Let me know if I'm crazy or not. Feel free to put a comment on my Christian Finance blog by clicking on the link under this post, or if you'd rather, just drop me a quick note at chris@biblekeeper.com. I hope to hear from many of you soon!