How much is a poor person worth?
I'd have to say that people - in general and as a baseline - are worth nothing. Actually less than nothing, considering the costs of raising an infant. So we all start with a negative intrinsic value. Where we go from there varies tremendously.
But then I've never bought that whole "life is precious and sacred" nonesense.
But then I've never bought that whole "life is precious and sacred" nonesense.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
It's a shitty question to ask, but when we become required to pay for everyone who can not pay for themselves, aren't we then allowed and required to ask? We're going to be paying for food, housing, education, and tonsillectomies, but I assume we wont be paying for bionic limbs when they set themselves on fire when smoking crack. Where's the line?
We're gonna need some death panels to figure this out.
We're gonna need some death panels to figure this out.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Even if you give otherwise useless, worthless fuckwads free cash, they'll find a way to waste it.
Each Congressman's salary should be directly linked to how much cash all the other states have to pump into his shitty one, perhaps on a per capita basis. If your state's sucking up more than it's "fair" share, the excess gets deducted. After that's exhausted, we'll start garnishing their kickbacks, too.
Each Congressman's salary should be directly linked to how much cash all the other states have to pump into his shitty one, perhaps on a per capita basis. If your state's sucking up more than it's "fair" share, the excess gets deducted. After that's exhausted, we'll start garnishing their kickbacks, too.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Do they contribute more than $50,00 to us? If it's Warren Buffet, I might vote "yes."TheCatt wrote:Maybe we do need death panels.
i mean, is it worth $50,000 a month to keep someone alive?
If it's Bruce Campbell, "hell, yes."
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Malcolm wrote:TheCatt wrote:Maybe we do need death panels.
i mean, is it worth $50,000 a month to keep someone alive?
Do they contribute more than $50,00 to us? If it's Warren Buffet, I might vote "yes."
If it's Bruce Campbell, "hell, yes."
This is the core of my question.
The ironic thing is, if they are worth keeping alive from an economic standpoint, they probably don't need government health care.
edit - Well, not exactly. But a government-run health system still isn't the way. As Thib said elsewhere... they want to cover routine visits to the doctor, which can't be covered if you want to call it "insurance."
Anyway.
Edited By GORDON on 1251766368
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
TheCatt wrote:I don't think EVA is the way to judge lives.
Given finite resources & requiring infinite results means a system has to get brutal in its priorities. & when I say "has to" I mean that it will necessarily evolve that way. Your resources are finite. That means somebody might die of curable diseases. Magic Johnson's rich ass is still alive, but pretty much only because he's independently wealthy. We ain't all going to get to be Magic.
Shit, what are we going to do when there aren't enough organs to go around? I don't give a fuck how ironclad your plan is, it can't conjure a new pair of lung & kidneys from nothing. People can live w\ just one of each. If we're following the "everybody gets fixed at every opportunity" philosophy to the jack-booted extreme, then we start forcibly harvesting from healthy folk.
Course, this all based on the notion that we have to have some way to stamp a numerical value on someone's life.
Edited By Malcolm on 1251770064
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
I don't give a fuck how ironclad your plan is, it can't conjure a new pair of lung & kidneys from nothing.
Well, now that the government is going to get involved in this stuff, maybe we'll find a solution.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
Shit, I'm ready to implant my brain into a robot frame right now. Or get a jack installed in my spine to surf the net w\ my mind.
"I know kung fu."
"For the last time, NO you don't."
Edited By Malcolm on 1251773237
"I know kung fu."
"For the last time, NO you don't."
Edited By Malcolm on 1251773237
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."