ArcaMax

"But people will die!" That's what some shout whenever anyone proposes cutting government spending. An audience member at a town hall shouted it when Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst said Medicaid shouldn't cover illegal immigrants. Ernst responded with an obvious truth: "We all are going to die." The audience groaned and booed. The Nation magazine said her "cruelty and sarcasm might cost her her job." Why? Ernst was right. Politicians, spending other people's money, ought to put limits on how much tax money to spend on medical care. But they don't want to.

"If there's even one life that can be saved, we've got an obligation to try," said Barack Obama, pushing gun control. "You can't put a price on human life," said Sen. Cory Booker. But in the real world, we put a price on life all the time.

Ken Feinberg explains how he does that. Feinberg was appointed to decide how much money 9/11 victims should receive. He was also chosen to decide how much to give victims of the BP oil spill, the Boston Marathon bombing, Hurricane Katrina, the Sandy Hook and Virginia Tech shootings, and other tragedies. Judges and juries put prices on lives every day, Feinberg tells me. "You get hit by an automobile. There's a price ... Over a work life, what would she or he have made? Add some element of emotional distress, pain and suffering. There's the value of the life."

"That's good?" I ask.

"What's the alternative?" He responds. One alternative is for victims to sue. Ambulance chasing lawyers tell you, "I can get you more!" But people who sue often don't get paid for years, and the legal system (plaintiff's lawyer, defense lawyers, plus court costs) takes most of the money!

After 9/11, "There was a cold calculation made by Congress," says Feinberg. "We don't want lawsuits ... Lawsuits are inefficient, costly, delay ridden, and most importantly ... very uncertain ... 'Take the money from Feinberg and sign away your right to sue.'" Some people complained about that.

"People felt that this fund was too assembly line. It was automatic calculations with a calculator. 'Why won't Mr. Feinberg give me a full and fair opportunity, one-on-one to chat about my dead wife?' ... I conducted myself, over 900 individual hearings ... it was inefficient. You had to slow down the process to see them. It was tragic and horrific to listen to people. But it helped to assure success of the fund." I was surprised that Feinberg now says government shouldn't do anything like the 9/11 fund again. "No," he says. "9/11 was unique ... the only program in American history where the government paid the claimants. It was all taxpayer money ... Don't ever do it again." Why?

"Americans do not have government as a source of individual compensation to victims of life's misfortune, even innocent victims ... Where does it end? ... Why would people mitigate against risk in day-to-day living if they knew that, whatever happens to me, if I'm climbing a mountain that I shouldn't or driving a motorcycle that I shouldn't, it's all right because government's there to provide a check. I think you'd bankrupt the country." He adds, "American people are very self-reliant. You buy life insurance, you have some protection, Social Security ... We don't look to government to be the guarantor of misfortune and compensation."

Money for victims of the BP oil spill, the Boston Marathon bombing, Hurricane Katrina, Sandy Hook, the Pulse nightclub shooting and other tragedies where Feinberg was hired to pay settlements came from the companies involved or from volunteers.

People donate because we want to help. That help then comes without strings. Victims get money fairly quickly because there are few delays from lawsuits. That's the best way to compensate people.

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John Stossel is the author of "Government Gone Wild: Exposing the Truth Behind the Headlines." Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, he posts a new video about the "battle between government and freedom!"

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