Who the **** came up with this idea?

[taranaki]

DAMN I'M ANGRY..............

I just heard on the news that payments to the wtc victims' families from the relief appeal will be made on a sliding scale based on the victim's income.....


What the fuck is that all about?Some fuckwit right-wing bunch of bastards on the appeal committee get to decide that a victim is only as good as their last paycheck?This is fucking disgraceful.

Some of the lowest - paid people who died in this tragedy will be the firefighters and police officers who deliberately entered the damaged buildings to rescue others.These are the true heroes of this tragedy and to see them insulted in this manner makes me just plain furious.


Regardless of how much people receive as compensation,the victims can never be brought back.But to allow political interference of this kind in the distribution of aid is disgusting.

[DVSNCYNIKL]

Unfortunately, that's how things work around here.

[enginerd]

Yes, here in America punishment is issued to you if you are successful. In this same subject if you have planned retirement successfully, all your investments are subtracted from any total you'll receive from uncle Sam. I'm not saying that if something bad happens to you, you deserve compensation from the government, but the government owes it to us to be consistent.

[YogsVR4]

I guess the whole thing makes me confused. People are complaining because the government is giving them money to help the family loss. Well excuse me, but aren't there hundreds of families ripped apart every day by drunk dirvers? Were is their check? Noplace. While I dont want to sound heartless to the families because I am still enraged over what happened, but for goodness sake, its not enough that their getting a large sum to help. They're fucking complaining about it. Anyone who opens their mouth shouldn't get squat and that money can go to some other deserving family who needs it just as bad.

The greed of some people. Its ok if you're greedy and you work hard for it, but this takes the cake.

Actually, Tara, the police and firefighter families will make out the best of all the WTC victims. They have separate monies that were raise specifically for them in addition to their cut of the money for WTC families in general. Also, the families have been receiving non-monatary perks for some time now. You don't see any of the WTC janitor's kids sitting courtside at Knicks games or being flown out to LA just to appear in the audience of Leno.

There will always be a scale here in the US. In this instance I don't think there is a 100% fair solution.

Also: the families of the soldiers lost aboard the USS Cole are suing for a cut of the WTC victim money. They were victims of Bin Laden too they say.

[dre]

what about money for the people who died in the first WTC attack?
remember the bomb in the basement? Where's their payday?

[Setanta]

What a sick old world

[marc49]

there are two ways that I have looked at this.

1. How can you put a monetary price on a person's life? How much money will stop the hurt and pain that the family is going through because of their loss? You can't do it. A person's life is priceless and no amount of money will ever make up for a living, loving person.

2. If they are distributing the money to help the families replace the income lost from a WTC victim, then it only makes sense that they do it on a progressive scale. If someone was making $50,000 a year and their family was living a lifestyle that was supported by that amount, it only makes sense that they get more than someone making $25,000 a year because that person's family is accustomed to living a lifestyle on that amount. So say they are giving people 15% of what a person made a year (just using arbitrary numbers) then the people who were living on 50 g's would get $7500 and the family who were living on 25 g's would get 3750..

That is PERFECTLY fair in my opinion.

[taranaki]

Originally posted by marc49
there are two ways that I have looked at this.

1. How can you put a monetary price on a person's life? How much money will stop the hurt and pain that the family is going through because of their loss? You can't do it. A person's life is priceless and no amount of money will ever make up for a living, loving person.

2. If they are distributing the money to help the families replace the income lost from a WTC victim, then it only makes sense that they do it on a progressive scale. If someone was making $50,000 a year and their family was living a lifestyle that was supported by that amount, it only makes sense that they get more than someone making $25,000 a year because that person's family is accustomed to living a lifestyle on that amount. So say they are giving people 15% of what a person made a year (just using arbitrary numbers) then the people who were living on 50 g's would get $7500 and the family who were living on 25 g's would get 3750..

That is PERFECTLY fair in my opinion.

Agree in full with your first statement,but I believe that everybody has a responsibility to provide for care for their families in the event of their premature death....even on a modest income I am happy in the knowledge that all outstanding debts and consequential costs would be covered should I suddenly snuff it.
Without wishing to sound like an insurance salesman,you have to prepare for the worst as best you can


the richer guys are far better placed to do just that,and any compensation should be made in equal amounts.Nobody should have the right to say that one life is worth more than another.



Elsewhere it has been suggested that..


You don't see any of the WTC janitor's kids sitting courtside at Knicks games or being flown out to LA just to appear in the audience of Leno.


this is true,but I don't recall any of the janitors being asked to rescue people from a collapsing inferno either.

[marc49]

Originally posted by taranaki


Agree in full with your first statement,but I believe that everybody has a responsibility to provide for care for their families in the event of their premature death....even on a modest income I am happy in the knowledge that all outstanding debts and consequential costs would be covered should I suddenly snuff it.
Without wishing to sound like an insurance salesman,you have to prepare for the worst as best you can


the richer guys are far better placed to do just that,and any compensation should be made in equal amounts.Nobody should have the right to say that one life is worth more than another.

Your assumption that because someone made more than another, that their families will be better able to compensate is not true. It is statistically proven that, on average, as a person's income goes up so does their expenses. So the income to expense ratio on average is near the same no matter how much a person makes. The person who makes more should save more, but they don't so they're would be in just as much need as someone making less... I believe it's something like most people will spend between 115-125% (don't hold me to that specific percentage I can't remember the exact figure) of what they make in a year, that's why there is such a problem with credit card debt

Of course if someone is making millions a year the ratio will be skewed drastically, but I don't think this fund is meant to help those who were making millions of dollars.

[taranaki]

Originally posted by marc49


Your assumption that because someone made more than another, that their families will be better able to compensate is not true. It is statistically proven that, on average, as a person's income goes up so does their expenses.

That is my point exactly...the better off you are,the more chance you have of affording decent life insurance...it shows a lack of responsibility to your family if you have a decent income and don't protect it.

[ric]

welcome to america.

[TerminalVelocity]

this whole topic is touchy...these people all lost their lives, innocent for how it occured, they didnt ask to die, and the firefighters and police who died, they wernt innocent in my definition, but more of a hero standing. They wernt innocent because they knew what they were getting into, and for that the only price good enough to pay them is life, the one thing we cant give to the fallen heros, the ones who deserve it most. I plan on becoming a police officer, and I have put my life on the line already to save others, I knew I could die but I felt that as long as I could save one innocent person, it was worth it. So I can simpathise in a manner with them. (nowhere on their scale, but you get the idea) But the familys of these people didnt bargen for this, nor did anyone else. But what of the other familys who suffer from fear that they will lose one? What of the familys who lost due to the current war, what of the ones who will die? The way everything about this is being conducted really chaps my ass. The only good part of it is the heros are getting recognition, and hopefully they can get the rest now they truly deserve. I just wish we wouldnt send troops all across the world in a ghost chase...you dont swat a fly with a sledgehammer...so why waste good life of our men and wemon? Ok...got on a tangent here...about the money, I do see how a pay scale would make sence, if someone was making 100,000 and had 60,000 in bills each year, paying 30,000 wouldnt help much. But a family making 30,000 with 15,000 in bills, 30,000 would be a lil much. It dosent seem right they die simply to have their family pampered like that....if I lost a loved one like that, I sure as hell wouldnt take more than I needed.

[Ando_Rules]

that is soo stupid they should give the same amount to everyone, i mean it is making the familes feel even worse then they already do because it is disrespecting them

[V.S.]

I don't think anyone should profit monetarily by the death of their loved ones on Sep 11. Its rare enough that the families are getting such benefits at all. Its one thing for them to be paid enough to offset the death in terms of maintaining their standard of living. But if the money were distributed equally to each family it would be like the government trying to replace the dead, or giving the families a reward. It would just be sick. The payments being given based on how much the deceased earned isn't a measure of their "worth as a human being" or anything like that. Its just the rational way to minimize the change forced on those left alive.


And like YogsVR4 said, these families should be happy they're getting paid like this. Lots of people die in tragic circumstances without their families recieving so much support afterward. If some people aren't happy with their payments, I know of a military that should be using them.