Um... yeah! IF you think of the world purely in terms of how much money we
all have and how valuable that makes us...
Just because each group of Domesticated "Alpha MALE" Primates on the planet
places a monetary value on life at-the-moment doesn't mean to say it's right
that we do so....! You're assuming that goverment/society actually has a
conception of what it's doing and is not working off of principles
established a few centuries ago when we all swore that the earth was
flat...!
You're also assuming that modern economics is based on something more than
"ceteris paribus"....
As to your point about AIDS, well here's a theory: let's say your
theoretical drug company comes up with this cure that costs 1 billion bucks
a head.Say that a "muchmoresympathetic" US government simply decides to
print an extra 1 squillion bucks a head to cover it. Who's gonna stop them?
inflation? but what if the rest of us agree that it's in the comon good and
we unilaterally decide not to start charging more money (yes I know the
concept is unfamilliar to those cappies out there but bear with me...) for
our services. Look at what's happened in South Africa, basically they've
just given the finger to all the drug companies which is (IMHO) the best
thing that's happened since someone told Hitler to go stick his ideas for
racial superiority up his nazi butt! Why is it that we have to see
everything in terms of money? I mean, aren't we better than that?
I forgot, no one takes Star Trek seriously, mainly coz most of us are all
too damn cynical about everything and don't believe it's all eminently
possible in our lifetimes (please see Buckminster Fuller's predictions on
the elimination of poverty by 1995 if you really need confirmation)... So
what happens is, we collectively come to this massive delusion that the
world is full of arseholes out to phuck us over and Hey Presto: that's what
happens :-0
Sorry mate, you believe what you like and that's fine..... Just don't expect
me to subscribe to an idea that is about as prehistoric as the (extinct!)
dinosaurs.
In the words of the late great Bill Hicks, "Sorry!"
peace,
-= Ed
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Fobare [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: 14 June 2001 4:28 PM
> To: CF-Community
> Subject: RE: Revenge has it's place <cf_rant>
>
>
>
> Someone said:
> Anyone who could even contemplate valuing human life in terms of how many
> >dollars the person is worth need look no further to find "pure evil" than
> >walk to the nearest mirror.
>
> Bulls**t. Everybody puts a price on life. The gov't does it(or is
> supposed
> to) when contemplating new regulations. The cost of implementation is
> weighed against how many lives will be saved. If the cost is exorbitant,
> the reg is shelved(or should be). Insurance companies do it every time a
> new policy is priced. And consumers do it when they purchase said
> policies.
> The examples are endless. And it is not evil: its common sense.
>
> Hypothetical: A new AIDS treatment is discovered. Guarantees complete
> recovery. Cost? 1 billion dollars per patient, and there are *no*
> economies
> of scale to be had. Should the gov't order a big batch of these, and tax
> the populace for the bill? Or force the private company that
> discovered the
> treatment to provide it for free? Tell them to keep researching?
> Or reduce
> inflation & kill the cap gains tax so that the marketplace can
> attract the
> capital necessary to find a better way?
>
> Dave Fobare
>
>
>
>
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