11 July 2008

Wonder What Your Soul is Worth?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25626294

If you're an American, your life is worth 6.9 million smackers. Just statistically speaking. The EPA has figured this out for you, so that when things are planned by the government they can do a reasonable cost/benefit analysis. You know, so that when something harmful to human life should be cleaned up, perhaps they'll consider how many people live there vs. how much it would cost to clean.

Now, if we're going to put a dollar figure on "human life," and be that crass, may I suggest that all y'all high school dropouts are worth less than graduate school students? And you folks in the inner city aren't worth much except to political candidates, and that's only at election time. Folks in rural towns who aren't farming? Worthless. And, finally, people over 70. Let's be real about this. You've already finished being useful to society. Now you're just sitting around, sucking up all that "savings" you acquired that someone else could be using. Or worse, you're sitting in a home eating up my tax dollars! If I'm calculating the worth of a human life in dollars, I'm thinking you guys are all negative. Statistically speaking. You know, nothing personal.

"Other, similar calculations by the Bush administration have proved politically explosive. In 2002, the EPA decided the value of elderly people was 38 percent less than that of people under 70. After the move became public, the agency reversed itself."

Well, yeah! You don't want "moves" on the part of any public agency being, you know, public and all. Why don't they just come up with a detailed analysis on who's worth how much and why? Maybe we could just figure out who the "best" people are and save those. I'd say that it reminds me of Hitler's regime, except that Hitler's regime was not alone in thinking along these lines. We do it all the time here in America except we don't call it "eugenics." We call it "Planned Parenthood" or use slogans like "every child a wanted child" (drives me crazy, because obviously God wanted the kid there). Or media run stories about missing white college girls and totally ignore the black ladies from the 'hood who have disappeared! Because who cares about those? We run what sells.

While we're on the subject of the "value of human life," how polite are we to those who are unloveable 'round town? Do we place a higher value on the polite people? I'll admit I do! BUT that's not how Jesus worked, and He was very specific about saying that even the worst people in the world can be nice to the people who are nice to them. The unloveable and the woman at the well have value. He even put a price tag on them and died for them. They're worth that much.

4 comments:

  1. Insurance companies do these calculations all the time. That's how they figure out what to charge for life insurance.

    But it would appear that the governmental agencies confused business calculations with ethical considerations.

    Joe

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  2. Wait til the day a person's retirement is calculated according to some crazy thing like this! (You'll get more credit if you're public school educated, take public transportation, vote in every election, only have 2 children, recycle, etc...)

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  3. Exactly, Joe!! Obviously if I'm diabetic, had three heart attacks, smokin' like a chimney and am 85 years old, they shouldn't have to sell me the best policy. But it's another thing for the GOVERNMENT to be putting a price tag on the lives of its citizens.

    LAA, I'm guessing when they get around to that "ozone tax" everyone's talking about on people with more than two kids... that we'd be paying a lot. As it is though, with that per-child tax credit we really aren't giving very much to Uncle Sam in relation to other people in the same income bracket (the yacht club bracket *wink*)

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  4. I think the word you used- crass, sums it up nicely. I have long believed that our culture has reduced human beings to nothing more than financial assets or liabilities. This just proves my point.

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Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

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