Does this mean I can get a reduction in the cost of insurance? Do I get a tax reduction because I’ve depreciated over time AND I’m now not worth as much?

The Life of an American Loses Value

It’s not just the American dollar that’s losing value. A government agency has decided that an American life isn’t worth what it used to be.

The “value of a statistical life” is $6.9 million in today’s dollars, the Environmental Protection Agency reckoned in May — a drop of nearly $1 million from just five years ago.
[…]
When drawing up regulations, government agencies put a value on human life and then weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the government, the less the need for a regulation, such as tighter restrictions on pollution.

Consider, for example, a hypothetical regulation that costs $18 billion to enforce but will prevent 2,500 deaths. At $7.8 million per person (the old figure), the lifesaving benefits outweigh the costs. But at $6.9 million per person, the rule costs more than the lives it saves, so it may not be adopted.

Some environmentalists accuse the Bush administration of changing the value to avoid tougher rules — a charge the EPA denies.




  1. Sea Lawyer says:

    I think the environmentalists are upset that the government is even considering social cost in their decision making process to begin with, especially when it doesn’t work in their favor.

  2. Gary, the dangerous infidel says:

    Nice photo, Uncle Dave, and it promises to get even more provocative as her dollar continues to shrink. I find myself cheering inflation 😉

  3. jbenson2 says:

    Do I get a tax reduction..? Ha!

    With President Obama in charge for the next 4 years, you better pull in your belt.

    You can HOPE for a tax reduction, but the CHANGE will be in the other direction: more, more, and more.

  4. enuf_is_enuf says:

    #3 wants a free ride. It always boils down to money, right?

    I bet the people in (that city where the bridge collapsed – Minneapolis?) wouldn’t have minded paying for some preventive maintenance.

    Maybe if we stopped the unnecessary giveaways to big corporations (big oil, for instance) we’d have less need for taxes.

  5. Uncle Patso says:

    The administration just doesn’t value our lives. (It’s not only black people, Kanye.) This is just proof in black & white of what many of us suspected all along…


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