dojN000941.xml

dojN000941.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2001-12-26

Wednesday, December 26, 2001 1:31 PM
victim's compensation

It seems to me we are getting carried away with the amount of the proposed awards to the victims of 9/11. I am hearing ranges up to several million dollars per family. And why not consider chartitable contributions to those families? This sounds like we have a new policy for aid to victims of disasters. I would say we probably can't afford to have a substantial economic stimulus package after we get done spreading the funds to the airlines and the victims. And will these awards benefit the country generally or just the victim's families? I have the greatest sympathy for the 9/11 victims but in the past I do not believe we have been nearly so generous with such victims. What did we do for the Oklahoma City victims? I could cite other examples but you are well aware of the past disasters where we were much less generous. There are some things in life for which the US government in the past did not assume responsibility and I question the new philosophy about government intervention. Aren't the ultimate benfici
aries here the airlines and their insurance carriers? Aren't they being protected by requiring general releases from the victims to be compensated? Is there some theory under which the US government would have had responsibility for the terrorist attacks? If the airlines in fact did something for which they would have been responsible should they be bailed out by the US government? If they default because of the verdicts which might ultimately be rendered won't another airline be created to fill the void? Aren't many of the insurance carriers foreign carriers? Should we be bailing them out?
In brief, unless I don't understand something about our new policy of compensation to the victims of disasters, I think we are being too generous with the 9/11 victims and I think the ultimate beneficiaries will be the airlines and their insurance carrier. Am I missing something here?
Individual Comment

2001-12-26