dojN001419.xml

dojN001419.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-01-07

Monday, January 07, 2002 11:29 AM
How could life be only worth what you make?

I really am disappointed to see that the government can value each
person's life as a different dollar amount. I understand in normal
circumstance the government only sees us as a tax identification number and
with that comes our income. In this circumstance (which isn't normal) the
human side and moral side should have some effect on the formula.

The fact that this incident happened is horrible to begin with but then for
the government to step in and claim someone who made more money at the time
of the event, life is worth more. In a situation like this there is no
possible way to weigh each families different variables. What about the
person who was on a job interview that morning, technically they aren't
making anything right? What about the woman who in today's society
automatically makes less then a man-Are you then condoning the fact that a
man's life is more valuable?

I am greatly upset by the people who can look at these victims as number's
at a time like this. The government took responsibility so all the
insurance companies, airlines and companies within the buildings and/or area
surrounding the buildings don't go into economic uproar due to lawsuits.
Because the government stepped in it is now their responsibility to try to
make the process as painless as possible.

The only way I see fair without paying the already wealthy more is to award
every victim a lump sum. The same amount due to the tragedy of a life
ending. Each relative whomever that be deserves the same not one person
more then the other. This will at least show that everyone person was worth
the same and was unfortunate in the wrong place at the wrong time. If the
lower income families aren't happy with the amount they can apply for help
at non-profit organizations. Higher income families would not have to
subtract deductibles. It wouldn't be an issue because if you had life
insurance you deserve to receive it because you would have paid premiums.
As for dependents, every child receives a fund set up for educational
purposes...Therefore the child with have college paid for and in turn bring
more expansion to the economy overtime.

I wish that due to the nature of this the government would at least be able
to say, "we weren't able to figure out a way to make the dollar amount fair
without looking at some lives as less then another's so we are giving every
life the exact same dollar amount." There is no way you can please
everyone...but at least the government will look as if they tried to value
each person.

Individual Comment

2002-01-07