There is an article in today’s NY Times today about monetary compensation for victims of Sept. 11th. When Republicans expressed concern about the amount this would cost the US, Tom Daschle responded with, “Can any of you value these lives right now? I can’t.” Hillary Rodham Clinton said, "“It is expensive,” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said. “But how do you put a price tag on a life?”
What kind of silly lip-service is this? Are these two suggesting that the cost is irrelevant? This is taxpayer money, is it not? The government is accountable for where money goes, who do they think they are telling me that cost does not matter? House Democrats say this could cost as much as 15 billion dollars.
Rediculous. I am all for giving financial aid to those who need it as a result of the WTC bombing. According to the article, charities have raised $675 million dollars. From people who probably assumed that they were not also going to be giving with their taxes.
So, IMHO, this is an extreme amount of money, and to simply spout, “there is no price tag on a human life,” is just rhetorical mumbo-jumbo meant to imply that anyone who disagrees with the bottomless pit of aid philosophy just doesn’t care about people.
Grrrr…