Grieving 9/11 Widow Spends Almost $5 Million

[methomps]

I feel for the victims of the families, but I didn't agree with them getting money (or should I say, so much money). Most or all of that money should've gone to the families of soldiers. Also some to the firefighters. Taking care of the families should've been done solely through private funds.

Now as for the victims of a violent crime, they may be covered by their own insurance. Certainly, an auto accident resulting in the death of a bread-winner or spouse invokes both insurance coverage and the (strong) likelihood of civil action to recover financial damages.

Recover from whom? The broke town drunk?

 

[AJHawkfan]

Just out of curiosity, how much money did the families of the Oklahoma City bombing victims get from the government? Any?

 

[LordJeffBuck]

1. Government Compensation - the reason for the compensation is that the 9/11 victims were killed by an act of war against the United States. The reason that there is no precedent for such compensation is because the act of war was unprecedented. Pearl Harbor comes closest, although that attack was against military operations, and did not target civilians.

2. Unequal Compensation - As the article stated, and Mili reiterated, the unequal compensation was based on future potential earnings. This concept is derived from tort law, where economic damages are determined based on the victim's earning potential (basically, salary times life expectancy, with adjustments for cost of living increases and appropriate modifications for retirement years). Thus, if a CEO and a janitor are both killed by the same defective product, the CEO's estate will get far more money than the janitor's. The system is "fair", unless you believe that it is inherently unfair for one person to earn more money than another, and think that all people should be compensated equally regardless of the various jobs which they perform.

3. Kathy Trant -

 

[FKAGobucks877]

I also don't have a problem with certain persons receiving more money than others. While the brave police officers and firemen certainly deserve all they got and more, it is the nature of our "capitalist" society to reward those that help themselves. If somebody has the talent and ambition to go to school for 7 years and effectively work his way up the corporate ladder, the fact is he would make more money than a cop that went to the police academy for 18 months. That is the nature of our society. I think it is certainly unfair to say that that person's family should only receive as much money as a the cop's family, when that person's family likely just inherited a $5000/month mortgage, car payments, private school tuition, etc.

 

[tibor75]

Actually, a policeman or a fire fighter shouldn't get any more money, since those people accept those risks as part of a job. Did you ever think that working for a major company in a sky-rise would get you killed?

 

[Thump]

The doling out of money for 9/11 is just the same as divorce settlements.

Mick Jagger's ex for example would get about $40,000 a month where a normal average middle class wife would maybe get two or three thousand.

Is it fair, No. Is it life, yes.

Does the husband always get the shaft, most definitely.

 

[gbearbuck]

I'm under the impression that insurance companies did pay out claims to 911 victoms (major bad PR if they didn't)... unless I'm wrong about the insurance money, the government shouldn't have paid a nickel to anybody.

I have a problem with the federal gov. taking on selective assistance (as stated above, the Oklahoma City bombing folks didn't get millions). Also, if you are going to pay folks, I would hope they would cap the money. The gov. isn't responsible for maintaining the families standard of living. Should the widow of an old man get less than the widow of a young man (assumeing same job/same pay)? Probably... should it be several times more? No, the young widow has a whole life to get back on the horse, get a job, get remarried if she doesn't want to work, etc.

I think a few hundred grand cap would get folks through a couple years... and then have some type of a trust established for the kids to help pay for college should they choose to go to college (no matter the income of the parent).

 

[methomps]

Actually, a policeman or a fire fighter shouldn't get any more money, since those people accept those risks as part of a job. Did you ever think that working for a major company in a sky-rise would get you killed?

Well maybe if the sky-rise had been attacked once already

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Actually, a policeman or a fire fighter shouldn't get any more money, since those people accept those risks as part of a job. Did you ever think that working for a major company in a sky-rise would get you killed?

Police and firemen are expected to accept risks put in front of them by members of our own society, not those by insane/fanatical foreign terrorists flying fully-loaded airliners into skycrapers. They are just as innocent as everyone else involved.

 

[tibor75]

Police and firemen are expected to accept risks put in front of them by members of our own society, not those by insane/fanatical foreign terrorists flying fully-loaded airliners into skycrapers. They are just as innocent as everyone else involved.

I'm not saying they aren't innocent.

actually, firemen and police officers in NYC should have been prepared for terrorist wackos killing them, because they had already tried before.

 

[sandgk]

I feel for the victims of the families, but I didn't agree with them getting money (or should I say, so much money). Most or all of that money should've gone to the families of soldiers. Also some to the firefighters. Taking care of the families should've been done solely through private funds.

Agreed -- equitable distribution based on need would have been better in many people's view (mine included).

Recover from whom? The broke town drunk?

True, you can't get blood from a stone, though not all drunk drivers are poorly heeled. Some get that way on $20 shots of single malt and then get behind the wheel of a $50K Mercedes to do their damage.

all i wanna know is what kinda friends does she have to get 3 million dollars from????

The kind of friends we'd all like to have

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I'm not saying they aren't innocent.

actually, firemen and police officers in NYC should have been prepared for terrorist wackos killing them, because they had already tried before.

Who could've foresaw that kind of attack? Police and firemen did indeed prepare for the type attack that the WTC originally suffered. Prior to 9-11, who would've thought that someone would actually fly fully-loaded airliners into the WTC, and even more, who could've predicted their collapse (the Empire State building got hit by a bomber in the '30s or '40s and it barely affected it, so folks felt the WTC buildings were essentially indestructible).

 

[AJHawkfan]

I have a problem with the federal gov. taking on selective assistance (as stated above, the Oklahoma City bombing folks didn't get millions).

Especially when you consider that the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing were in a FEDERAL building at the time they died.

Were the families of the victims who died in the Pentagon rewarded with the same money that the WTC victims' families were? What about the hostages who died in the ATF's siege at Waco?

 

[tibor75]

What about the hostages who died in the ATF's siege at Waco?

Interesting. Were there innocent hostages at Waco? I thought the people who died were the wackos and their family members. The only people who deserved anything were the ATF agents who died. The ATF did nothing wrong. Those people had it coming. If a husband is killed along with his family members in a shoot-out with police, why should the family members get any compensation.

One interesting thing about Waco... if the AG in question had been John Ashcroft how would it have played out differently? I'm assuming all the right wingers who castigate Reno would support Ashcroft..and all those left wingers who supported Reno would be crying about Ashcroft's police state. Of course, if the victims in question had been foreigners, Mexicans, or blacks nobody would probably have cared one way or another.

 

[AJHawkfan]

I don't know all the specifics, and I'm not saying they were completely innocent; but IIRC, there were a number of people who were essentially being held hostage by Koresh, in the name of religion or whatever. I guess if they were not permitted to leave, they should be considered hostages.

I'm certainly not saying the ATF did anything wrong. They gave Koresh more than enough time to surrender peacefully. Besides, he is the one who actually started the fire, wasn't he?