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.
The Associated Press discovered the change after a review of cost-benefit analyses over more than a dozen years.
Though it may seem like a harmless bureaucratic recalculation, the devaluation has real consequences.
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.
... economists calculate the value based on what people are willing to pay to avoid certain risks, and on how much extra employers pay their workers to take on additional risks. Most of the data is drawn from payroll statistics; some comes from opinion surveys. According to the EPA, people shouldn't think of the number as a price tag on a life.
The EPA made the changes in two steps. First, in 2004, the agency cut the estimated value of a life by 8 percent. Then, in a rule governing train and boat air pollution this May, the agency took away the normal adjustment for one year's inflation. Between the two changes, the value of a life fell 11 percent, based on today's dollar
Quote by velveeta jones:
Good morning all! Happy Frydee!
What does one wear to a rendition? Hmmmm:
Quote by velveeta jones:
Good morning all! Happy Frydee!
What does one wear to a rendition? Hmmmm:
Quote by Scoopster:
Sound the heralds! It is he who is I am! :banana:
And I bring "grave news" today..
Quote by Scoopster:
Sound the heralds! It is he who is I am! :banana:
And I bring "grave news" today..
Quote by capt:Quote by Scoopster:
Sound the heralds! It is he who is I am! :banana:
And I bring "grave news" today..
Morbid humor. . .
Quote by velveeta jones:Quote by Scoopster:
Sound the heralds! It is he who is I am! :banana:
And I bring "grave news" today..
:blink: YIKES. Seems rather sad to have to actually make a LAW banning sex with corpse's.
Quote by TriSec:
6.9 million, eh?
Here's a thought. At birth, everyone gets 6.9 million dollars. When you spend the last one, you're hauled off and shot. No exceptions.
Anyway, I digress.
Morning, comrades!
Quote by Raine:Just in time for the RNC convention... Awww... bummer :kickcan:Quote by capt:Quote by Scoopster:
Sound the heralds! It is he who is I am! :banana:
And I bring "grave news" today..
Morbid humor. . .
Quote by starling310:Quote by TriSec:
6.9 million, eh?
Here's a thought. At birth, everyone gets 6.9 million dollars. When you spend the last one, you're hauled off and shot. No exceptions.
Anyway, I digress.
Morning, comrades!
That is a fantastic idea!
Can we institute that plan retroactively?
I would gladly accept $11,308 less than 6.9 M. . . a dollar for every day I have been alive thus far.
Quote by capt:
Especially for necrophiliacs!!
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by starling310:Quote by TriSec:
6.9 million, eh?
Here's a thought. At birth, everyone gets 6.9 million dollars. When you spend the last one, you're hauled off and shot. No exceptions.
Anyway, I digress.
Morning, comrades!
That is a fantastic idea!
Can we institute that plan retroactively?
I would gladly accept $11,308 less than 6.9 M. . . a dollar for every day I have been alive thus far.
6.9 mill won't last that long. I suspect some people will run to Santuary.
Quote by starling310:Quote by wickedpam:Quote by starling310:Quote by TriSec:
6.9 million, eh?
Here's a thought. At birth, everyone gets 6.9 million dollars. When you spend the last one, you're hauled off and shot. No exceptions.
Anyway, I digress.
Morning, comrades!
That is a fantastic idea!
Can we institute that plan retroactively?
I would gladly accept $11,308 less than 6.9 M. . . a dollar for every day I have been alive thus far.
6.9 mill won't last that long. I suspect some people will run to Santuary.
I think I could make 6.9 Million go a looooooooooooooooooooooooooo. . . . . . . *gasp* . . . ooooooooooooooooong way.
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by starling310:Quote by wickedpam:Quote by starling310:Quote by TriSec:
6.9 million, eh?
Here's a thought. At birth, everyone gets 6.9 million dollars. When you spend the last one, you're hauled off and shot. No exceptions.
Anyway, I digress.
Morning, comrades!
That is a fantastic idea!
Can we institute that plan retroactively?
I would gladly accept $11,308 less than 6.9 M. . . a dollar for every day I have been alive thus far.
6.9 mill won't last that long. I suspect some people will run to Santuary.
I think I could make 6.9 Million go a looooooooooooooooooooooooooo. . . . . . . *gasp* . . . ooooooooooooooooong way.
I could too. but there are people who are gonna spend it before they get out of their teens and gonna have to be draged to Carosel but by the Sandmen
Quote by capt:
An old friend of mine used to say:
"I know it is gay to actually suck another guy - but does it apply if you just roll it around in your mouth a little?"
*skates off to the penalty box*
Quote by capt:
An old friend of mine used to say:
"I know it is gay to actually suck another guy - but does it apply if you just roll it around in your mouth a little?"
*skates off to the penalty box*
Quote by velveeta jones:Quote by capt:
An old friend of mine used to say:
"I know it is gay to actually suck another guy - but does it apply if you just roll it around in your mouth a little?"
*skates off to the penalty box*
Oh dear............
You'll be there awhile for that comment.
That's as bad as my gay boy friends t-shirt that sez: "Does this dick in my mouth make me look gay?"
:lol:
Oops........... (off I go to join him)
Quote by velveeta jones:
Le Yikes!! I wonder how those kids turned out!
Quote by capt:Quote by velveeta jones:Quote by capt:
An old friend of mine used to say:
"I know it is gay to actually suck another guy - but does it apply if you just roll it around in your mouth a little?"
*skates off to the penalty box*
Oh dear............
You'll be there awhile for that comment.
That's as bad as my gay boy friends t-shirt that sez: "Does this dick in my mouth make me look gay?"
:lol:
Oops........... (off I go to join him)
I'm making some coffee - (senseo) Would you like Sumatra or Dark roast? The penalty box is going to get more comfortable. I'm there often enough to decorate a little. Here's a pillow to sit on.