The Value of Life
I commend the government for paying $50,000 in wrongful death damages for each Afghan loss from the recent alleged mass murder by the US Army staff sergeant. Let's run the numbers:
The average Afghan family income is $300.
The average South Carolina family income is $42,117, or 140 times the average income of an Afghan family.
If a SC state employee kills someone wrongly, our state values that wrongful death at no more than $300,000 under the Tort Claims Act.
If the government valued a South Carolina family as much as it does an Afghan family, the Tort Claims cap would be $42,117,000.
We should ask our state legislature why it so grossly undervalues our citizens' lives?
