The system of cost benefit analysis is extremely flawed, well at least before John Stuart Mill fixed it. It puts a value on human lives and the fact is you can put a value, but in most cases not everyone agrees with this value. Companies shouldn't choose a value of a person's life based on data. This system fails to respect individual rights. It isn't right to translate values into dollar signs and make a decision based on that. Say someone asked you how much many would it take for you to climb to the top of Mount Everest. You might set a price at say 200,000 dollars, and the other person would agree. You would then climb the Mount Everest, but in the process you might suffer some long lasting effects. When climbing high altitudes your brain gets less oxygen resulting in the loss of brain cells. You might fall of a cliff on the mountain and break multiple bones in your body. After you come down the mountain you will most likely ask for more money because you suffered the long lasting effects. There cannot be any concrete price things such as human life. If one person were to sue for emotional distress and they received 1,000 dollars. Then a similar case happens somewhere else and that person receives 2,000 dollars. The person that got 1,000 might ask for 2,000 dollars saying that their case deserves more money. This process could continue on and on, and eventually someone will run out of money. The system of cost benefit analysis was broken. It has been fixed over the years, but in my opinion the system shouldn't be used.
In my opinion, Dan has brought up some good points. Even though I do believe that one shall not put a price on human lives, I am more appalled that companies are treating money as if it is more important than morals. Money is material. It is just a green slip of paper. It is easy to say that it represents the base and organization for any society, but then what does a human life represent? Lives make up society; humans made society and the dollar system. Human life is natural and was not formed by greedy merchants. A human life is bigger than money, and should not be replaced with money. Money could disappear forever and our society could function such as through trade like in earlier times. If human life disappeared forever, then there would be nothing left. A human life is more valuable than any amount of money.
ReplyDelete