Guest
06-20-2010, 10:01 AM
I found this opinion piece written by Kenneth R. Feinberg, a Washington lawyer, was the administrator of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. It appeared in the Washington Post on September 11, 2008.
The 911 victim fund was established with American taxpayer monies accounting for some 42 percent of the fund, along with 51 percent of the total coming from insurance companies and 7 percent from charitable contributions.
Obama has appointed Feinberg as the administrator of the $20 billion set up for the Gulf Coast victims.
In Feinberg's article about the 911 Fund set up by the govenment, he says this: "Despite its success, the fund has not set a precedent. Congress has not authorized similar compensation for the thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina, for those injured by other natural disasters or for the families of those killed in such tragedies. Families of firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty do not receive $2 million tax-free. Nor has Congress exhibited such generosity toward U.S. soldiers wounded, or the families of those killed, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The same is true of victims of terrorist attacks that took place before Sept. 11, 2001. The Navy personnel who died in the suicide attack on the USS Cole and the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing received no such public compensation. Even the victims of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, in 1993, were denied.
"Cold though it may sound, this is as it should be.
" Bad things happen to good people every day; Congress does not come to their financial rescue with generous, tax-free checks. In our free society, based on notions of limited government and equal protection of the laws, we simply do not expect the government to step in whenever misfortune strikes. This is not out of concern about bankrupting the Treasury. It is because our heritage teaches that we all must take our chances in life. Private insurance is available to guard against uncertainties. So is private charity, and it is notable that the American people donated $2.5 billion to help victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Meanwhile, government provides a modest safety net in the form of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and various other public compensation programs.
"The fund should be viewed historically as a unique response to a national tragedy rivaled only by the Civil War, Pearl Harbor and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/10/AR2008091002721.html
The 911 victim fund was established with American taxpayer monies accounting for some 42 percent of the fund, along with 51 percent of the total coming from insurance companies and 7 percent from charitable contributions.
Obama has appointed Feinberg as the administrator of the $20 billion set up for the Gulf Coast victims.
In Feinberg's article about the 911 Fund set up by the govenment, he says this: "Despite its success, the fund has not set a precedent. Congress has not authorized similar compensation for the thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina, for those injured by other natural disasters or for the families of those killed in such tragedies. Families of firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty do not receive $2 million tax-free. Nor has Congress exhibited such generosity toward U.S. soldiers wounded, or the families of those killed, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The same is true of victims of terrorist attacks that took place before Sept. 11, 2001. The Navy personnel who died in the suicide attack on the USS Cole and the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing received no such public compensation. Even the victims of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, in 1993, were denied.
"Cold though it may sound, this is as it should be.
" Bad things happen to good people every day; Congress does not come to their financial rescue with generous, tax-free checks. In our free society, based on notions of limited government and equal protection of the laws, we simply do not expect the government to step in whenever misfortune strikes. This is not out of concern about bankrupting the Treasury. It is because our heritage teaches that we all must take our chances in life. Private insurance is available to guard against uncertainties. So is private charity, and it is notable that the American people donated $2.5 billion to help victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Meanwhile, government provides a modest safety net in the form of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and various other public compensation programs.
"The fund should be viewed historically as a unique response to a national tragedy rivaled only by the Civil War, Pearl Harbor and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/10/AR2008091002721.html