W000061
Tuesday, November 06, 2001 1:00 PM
victim compensation
here are 2 scenarios:
1.- mr. jones dies in the attack. he was a stock broker and earned
$10,000 a week. he lived in a 1 million dollar house on long island with
his wife and 2 children. he owes $750,000 on his house and his wife
doesn't work. do you tell them to use their savings and to sell their
house and use the equity and charity to buy another house or rent an
apartment or do you help them pay off their house and provide enough
money for the kids to go to college.
2. mr. mercado worked in the kitchen of "Windows on the World" he earned
$350/wk at that job and at his second job he earned $250/wk. his wife
cleaned apartments to help make the ends meet and spent the rest of her
time taking care of their 5 children. do you give them the same amount
of money as the jones family, less money than the jones family or more
money than the jones family?
how can the charitable monies be distributed so that it is equitable for
all involved but not unfair to large wage earners or small wage earners?
i believe that the charity money as well as federal aid should be
distributed based upon need rather than maintaining the lifestyle that
the family was used to. but how do you distribute money to a family who
lost someone who was not a wage earner but someone who was raising a
family? how do you compensate a family who lost a child? how can you
place a monetary value on that?
i do not really have any suggestions. the reason i am writing is to say
that it very difficult to figure this out, but there are people who
need money right now just to survive and those people should be given
priority over others. we must help those the most in need first.......
don't wait for decisions. please help them now and deal with larger sums
later.
thank you
Individual Comment
Los Angeles