Life Worth Amanda Ripley Analysis

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What is a human life worth? Most people make a personal choice to value life differently, rather than just thinking about it on an economical mindset. When it comes to death, there is nothing you can do. After a tragedy, depending on if you have life insurance or not, the government will compensate for your loss to aid your family financially, not emotionally. When determining life value, the government must take into account the many factors that could affect how much a life is worth. The way we think we should be valued is very different from how the government and insurance companies believe. It is fair that the government puts a dollar value on human life, we are not all equal. All life has value but when it comes to compensation, it should …show more content…

In the article, What Is a Life Worth? by Amanda Ripley, she explains that compensation was given to families of the 911 tragedy to reimburse them of their loss, so that they can maintain their lifestyle. For instance, “Congress created the fund as a safety net for the victims’ families to ensure that they maintain something resembling their current standard of living” (Ripley 76). Economically speaking, all lives are not equal because of where a person stands financially. People who are more successful and have a higher income, should receive a higher amount when being compensated. For example, a stockbrokers family should receive more than the amount of a dishwashers family because of the difference in their incomes. Amanda Ripley describes the system and how the compensation calculus works when she says, “First, the government will estimate how much a victim would have earned over his or her lifetime had the planes never crashed... To estimate this amount, each family was handed an easy-to-read chart on the way into the meeting: Find your loved one’s age and income and follow your finger to the lucky number. Note that the lifetime earnings have been boosted by a flat $250,000 for “pain and suffering”―noneconomic losses, they are called. Tack on an extra $50,000 in pain and suffering for a spouse and for each child.” (Ripley 75). Compensation is cruel but it is not trying to put a value on someone’s life, it’s simply …show more content…

“What is a human life worth?” will always be a question that I don’t quite know the answer to. No matter what you do, how you chose to value your life is entirely up you. Everyone lives life differently so the monetary value of a person will be different. Whether you believe all lives should be handled as equal or if you chose to invest in life insurance, you cannot find the true value of life when thinking of all those legalities. Happiness is what the value of life ultimately should be all

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