No disrespect to this widow here, but why did your husband not have life insurance if you had 2 small children at home? I have no doubt my death would impact my family in many ways, including financial, but they would not be destitute and my childrens college educations would be secure.
Not exactly 100% on subject, but if people NEED LIFE INSURANCE they should buy it and not hope to die in some kind of freak accident after which their heirs might be lucky enough to sue someone. FReepers, please be sure you have enough life insurance....
I was frustrated that after 9/11, tragic and sad as it was, that too many people did not have enough life insurance and needed the charity/government handouts.
“Minnesota law caps the state’s liability at $1 million per incident and $300,000 per individual.”
That’s a good incentive for the state not to repair bridges...
Let's not make it it a feeding trough every useless liberal can belly up to and suck dry.
Oh' and leave my federal tax dollars out of it. I didn't screw up the bridge by diverting funds to build some politicians pet project.
Tough choice.
On the one-hand, we could establish a multi-billion dollar fund that would provide endless medical coverage for any tragedy that may occur at any point in the future.
On the other hand, we could remove the caps in the state liability.
Tough, tough choice.
The 9/11 fund was unwarranted compensation against a TERRORIST act.
The only real purpose was to prevent lawsuits against the airlines, which might have succeeded even though the airlines weren’t at fault.
The bridge collapse was a result of the state’s actions and the families should be compensated as such, but any comparisons or attempts to mimic the 9/11 fund would be a mistake.
The 9/11 fund was an atrocity that should never be repeated.
While I feel for these folks pain & suffering, that said, I have always thought that the 9-11 fund was the beginning of a slippery slope.
Ms. Gorden, I assume that means you want people to get refunds from the charities they have given to so that you could be helped.
Yay! More nanny state socialism! Just what we needed... (/vomiting sarcasm)
Look what happened with Katrina. Somewhere on this forum, a while back, there was a per capita estimate of what was paid out to New Orleans and its denizens.
I'd still love to see where all that money ended up. Rep William Jefferson (D) had to divert emergency personnel, during the emergency, to take care of a little 'personal business' at his N.O. residence.
* I wonder if he thought the electricity being off would cause some of his "frozen assets" to thaw out and somehow spoil. (Or more likely, be 'salvaged' by looters).
Seriously, government needs to get out of the charity business.
>>want state lawmakers to create a compensation fund modeled on the 9/11 fund established by Congress after the 2001 terrorist attacks.<<
Yep, I knew this was coming as soon as I heard that the families of the 9/11 victims were getting compensation from the government. This, I suppose, is the difference between being a liberal and being conservative. I think we all agree that tragedies like 9/11 are horrific, but the liberal simply acts without thinking about the consequences. The conservative considers the ramifications of their actions. It is reasonable that once you give 9/11 families money that others will start to line up, and there is no shortage of tragedies in this world.
Here we go.
As if society hasn’t already made provisions for people who fall on hard times. I mean no offense, and I’m genuinely sorry about the incident, and loss of life, but haven’t the Democrats invested the entirety of the last FIFTY YEARS building all manner of social “safety nets” to help people in these kinds of times of need???
Or, maybe it’s simply that people who have never had to rely on “the system” just plain suck at figuring out how to access it.
The airline industry might've been wiped out if many of those survivors had opted to sue, rather than agree to accept the taxpayer-funded compensation.
Sorry for the people who lost loved ones, but there's nothing like this at stake here.
More proof that there is NO shortage of lawyers in this country.
Except that they must have been taking Federal funds in some way for their bridges, it being an Interstate and all. Hello to Federal jurisdiction.
Bad precedent as far as I am concerned. Fed stuck their noses in and now they have anyone and everyone lining up at the door with one hand out and the other in the taxpayers' pocket.
Infrastructure repair? Why? We can’t see it unless the potholes are too big. The populace doesn’t see the improvements and scream about the cost of upkeep so our wonderful politicians give us what we want and spend our cash on stuff that gets them less grief and more votes to the detriment of infrastructure.
When something bad happens, the same whiners who scold the politicians for spending on maintenance then scream for compensation because the politicians were only doing their bidding in the first place.
I do not believe a single inspector ever thought about certifying the bridge because they had malice aforethought.
Modern politics dictated this outcome because we, as a whole, want everything NOW and the consequences be darned.
If ever a comet rushes toward the earth, about to crash into us and destroy all life, millions of people will be crying for federal funds and condemning Bush for not doing something to stop it.