Fund Allocation

Regarding as to whether or not the government should set up compensation funds for the families of victims, I do strongly believe that in certain cases, yes, the government does owe some people compensation. However, I do not believe that the government often gives out in the places that it should. It would be nice and lovely and all kinds of idealist if the government really and honestly did think of only the victims when it draws up figures and numbers, but it doesn't. How many died and how much publicity an incident recieves usually determines whether or not a compensation fund is set up.

As Dan was saying in class, you can go to all kinds of extremes to place blame on whoever you want to place blame on. At a stretch, anything can be blamed on anyone. Leeves should have been stronger to protect against floods and hurricanes, trailers should be sturdier to protect against tornados, homes sould be regulated more melt-retardant to protect against volcanoes. But then, according to that logic, people should be just as responsible on the other end of the spectrum which means I should start looking into life insurance against a meteor strike.

The government should definitely compensate for incidents it is directly at fault in. Japanese camps and that sort of thing. Where it gets fuzzy is the things like the 35W bridge collapse and 9/11. I do believe that the government should compensate for the 35W victims. It was their responsibility to hire and inspect the bridge properly. I also believe that they should compensate for 9/11 because it was on such a grand scale and such a tragic incident, it would seem remiss if the government dd nothing. By this logic, they also should have offered compensation to Katrina victims. However, all other victims of natural disaster, as harsh as it may seem, should not qualify I do not believe because the government is not responsible for nature. They can't prevent or stop acts of God, which is why people can buy insurance against it. It seems ridiculous though, to have to buy insurance against getting blown up at your place of work, and I think that is where the line is of when the government needs to step in and help out.