Putting a Price on Life: From 9/11 to the BP Oil Spill and Boston Marathon

Video Description

“You can’t put a price on life!” say politicians, pretending to be compassionate, spending other people’s money. Kenneth Feinberg, Special Master of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, says you CAN put a price on life. It’s based on what victims would’ve earned over a lifetime. Sound cold? He says it’s the only way. Our video explains why. ———————— To make sure you receive the weekly video from Stossel TV, sign up here: https://www.johnstossel.com/#subscribe-form ———————— Kenneth Feinberg distributed funds to the victims of 9/11, the Pulse nightclub shooting, the Boston Marathon, the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Virginia Tech shooting, the Aurora movie theater shooting, and now the LA wildfires. Feinberg’s decisions are not without controversy. After all, he’s putting a dollar value on human life. Here he points out that insurance companies and courts do it every day. After 9/11 Feinberg used a rigid formula which many call a cold calculation, but he points out it’s better to have an objective, transparent process, because factoring in subjective things like love or courage leads to judgments people perceive as biased. Maybe Feinberg’s strategy is why his funds have been successful. Most of the victims accept their payments and rarely sue.