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What is a Person Worth?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ironclad
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Ironclad

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I debated where to post this. Here or in Number 6's forum? Sadly, "Speak Freely" is no longer a place for a serious discussion.


I’m soliciting opinions: what is a person worth?

I am talking about economic cost, as measured by dollars, a concrete number.

I’m asking because I’ve seen thousands, dare I say millions, of dollars expended in rescue operations, medical programs, housing and/or incarcerating individuals, and in welfare. At the same time, there are huge resource imbalances in the world, and some of that money could go to moving food from point A to point B at a cost per individual that would amount to a few dollars each to keep them from starving, and it is not done.

To further clarify:
If I spend $10,000 on 4 hours of helicopter time (fuel, wear and tear on the aircraft, crew) to rescue one guy stuck on a sinking boat in the Gulf, why is that individual worth it when I could spend that same $10,000 feeding an entire village in sub-Saharan Africa for a year? Or run a clinic in Bangalore that could save hundreds?

Another example:
During the incident described in “Black Hawk Downâ€, in Mogadishu we lost 12 men. US Forces expended thousands of rounds of ammunition, multiple helicopters, and sacrificed Special Forces personnel in rescue attempts (highly trained, very expensive and hard to find individuals). While the kill ratio may be even higher than 1000 to 1, still, it remains that a tremendous financial outlay occurred to rescue a small number. While a US solder is much more expensive to train, pay, and equip than a typical third world militia-man, it does seem to be out of proportion.

Yet another example:
And un-insured person is brought to the Emergency Room. Society pays for his/her treatment regardless of their contribution to society.

Is the “worth†of someone in a depressed or undeveloped economy less because the economic output of that individual is less (often due to circumstance, not due to less intelligence or work-ethic)? Even within a developed country, what about rescue services for someone who has been a ‘dead-beat’ all of their lives, but still manages to get themselves into an expensive to remedy situation?

So, what’s a person worth?
 
What an interesting question.

I must admit, when I watch shows like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and they're demolishing and rebuilding a man's home and the man lost two limbs while fighting in Iraq I think, "Why him? Lots of men and women lose limbs fighting in Iraq. Why is he so special?" Perhaps it's because his family actually wrote in, I don't know but I don't like it. The guy's house was just small and hard for him to move around comfortably in, it wasn't a health hazard. I think they should have made a few changes that would have made it easier and used the rest of the money to do the same for many disabled veterans, not just one.

So I see what you're saying, I just don't have an answer.
 
(response to DS)
Flip answer, and the price of gas around HERE hasn't gone down at all.

Plus the cost in dollars/personel, lost good-will for no return save finding out that there were no WMD's.

Bad economics.

But, going by that measure, each Iraqi in that 10,000 number (which you pulled out of your ass), probably cost us thousands each if you amoritize the cost vs. the outlay. That's like killing them by dropping helicopters on them.
 
^ Indeed.

But how much canned meat? And at what cost?

Oh, and use spam, the pork factor will make clean-up more interesting.
 
Must every half-way interesting thread degenerate into people being killed with canned meat products?
 
Why a person? Why not a moon or a computer chip factory which supposedly costs 5 billion $US to build?

The answer will always be subjective. If you wish to calculate how much it has cost to produce person 'x', why not include his parents and their parents?
 
In the US, the worth of a person is measured by the size of their bank account. Regardless of their actual contributions to society.

Or so it seems.
 
I don't know if a flat dollar amount can quantify something as slippery as the life on an individual. Without getting too foo-foo about it, one could argue that the future potential of a person could throw off the $ amount, swayed by the decisions and/or plans of said individual.

Therefore, who's to make the call when deciding who to save and who not to? Do you spend the $10,000 on saving the life of a scientist who may hold the cure for some incurable ailment, or do you spend that $10,000 on a village full of shmoes who won't do much more than farm for the rest of their lives? Who gets to make that call?

The people with the money, unfortunately/fortunately.

And Laker_Girl, I'm right there with you about Extreme Home Makeover. My wife loves it, but it rubs me wrong the whole way through. It's the near false sense of care the cast of the show tries to give the "contestants". The only reason they do any of that is because it looks good on TV, and makes people emotional. I'm not convinced that a single person on that show gives a flying fuck about the people they help.
 
Some people are certainly worth more than others, that's for sure. I wonder if Wal-Mart carries illegals in bulk yet -- the military could buy up the lot of them and send THEM to Iraq. Two birds with one stone, right?
 
Let me put a new twist on the question.

We have all heard stories of some kid falling down a well, or that has some horrible disease. The child's potential contribution to society is unknown, and yet we spend the cash to preserve the child's life. The child has no resources of their own beyond what their parents have.

So why do we spend thousands rescuing a child with good press who needs a rescue shaft dug or a kidney, vs. not spending anything for a child who just needs a cup of clean water and a meal?

Why don't we look at it as "bang for the buck"? Consider that some missing person's cases get Huge ammounts of publicity (if the family knows how to manipulate the media, and the missing person is attractive), while others get no notice. The resources spent on the two cases are not equal.

And I hate extreme makeover. False drama, false "care", and about 10 minutes of content in a 1 hour show. The only people who come out looking "good" from that show is Sears.
 
Well the $1.95 I was paid to vote for Bush surely had no "value" in it. it seems to have been in the red for years now.
 
The only show of that type I can kinda appreciate is "Trick My Truck". Yes, I watch CMT every now and then. For those who have no idea what it's about, a bunch of truck mechanics ("Big Rigs" not pickup trucks) refurbish/customize some trucker's livelihood. Fix it up real nice, so it not only runs well again but looks good. Considering they're just truck mechanics, I can appreciate that, since that's what they do.
 
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