We’ll know because that’s when all the lawsuits will
start.
Every ambulance-chasing scheming shyster will sue to get a
big settlement. They’re already mapping
out their plans and lining up clients, I’m sure. I’ll also bet they’re scoping out venues to
file in places and before judges known for” jackpot justice” because of their
proclivity to deliver ridiculously outrageous settlements on the thinnest of legal
grounds.
Workers will sue employers for not adequately protecting
them. There will be individual and class-action lawsuits against firms that
make masks, gowns, gloves, wipes, disinfecting spray, hand sanitizer, whatever –
either because someone used one or more of these and still got the virus, or
they developed some other ailment while using these. Expect additional class-action
lawsuits against anyone and everyone that treated anybody for COVID-19.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t include the states attorneys
general suing various members of the Trump administration and Trump personally,
as well as the U.S. government for damages from the outbreak. Someone will also
try to sue China. Democrats will resume
impeachment hearings.
But what will really have all the shysters and scammers drooling
will be talk of Congress setting up a compensation fund for the victims of
COVID-19.
It won’t just be about those who contracted the virus, but also
those impacted by it. Yet the big money will be focused on compensating the
families of those who supposedly died from it.
There will be a push by members of Congress from both
parties to set up this fund ASAP and pump billions into it. I suspect Representatives
and Senators from both parties are already discussing this. I have no doubt
they will propose something soon; the only real difference between the parties’
plans will be how much every family gets, and who gets it.
No one will have the balls to stand up and question why we should
be paying anything to the families of the dead, just because someone died from this
particular disease. To question it would
be heartless – shouldn’t we as a nation help these families in their time of
need?
That said, I’m about to write something extremely
unpopular. However, it needs to be said. And since I started this whole project to
write about reality, I’ll do it.
We should not be compensating any family of someone who died
from COVID-19. We don’t compensate family
members of someone who dies from a heart attack, cancer or any other disease. There’s no justification for compensating families of people who die from
this disease, either. We can all be
sorry for their loss, we can grieve with them, but we shouldn’t pay them.
We set a terrible precedent under George W. Bush after the
9/11 attacks. At his direction, the
government paid out compensation to the families of those who died that day. I
said it was a terrible idea then, and I maintain it still is.
As well-meaning he may have thought it at the time, it was
not warranted. In fact, it was a stupid
decision that will haunt us for decades to come.
It was one thing to compensate the families of first
responders who died saving others such as those who perished on 9/11 or as a
result of that. The families of members of our military who die in service to our
country also should be compensated.
But it’s quite another matter to pay families of people who
died unfortunately by being in the wrong place at the wrong time – as in 9/11 –
or by contracting a deadly disease now. I don’t say that because I have no compassion
for families that lose loved ones, but because it can’t be our collective responsibility
to make everybody whole no matter what fate deals them.
Should we compensate families of people who die in car
accidents? What about the families of those who commit suicide, die of as a
result of a drug overdose, die after falling down their stairs at home, or
simply die of natural causes?
Where do we draw the line? And we have to. We can’t afford not to.
Not only that, but we should stop the terrible precedent set
by George W. Bush right now. Plus, we should remember how aggrieved and ungrateful
so many were at the amount they received back then, and their incessant legal
wrangling to get a bigger piece of the pie.
This was especially galling since by all rights they should
have received zero.
We should flatly refuse to be extorted by politicians
playing on public sympathy to deliver an unjustified financial windfall to the
families of those who may or may not have died from the virus.
I say may or may not because there’s new evidence that NYC officials
in particular – and I suspect many other hard-hit cities – have padded their
death toll from COVID-19. NYC officials started including additional deaths from
other causes like heart attacks in their COVID-19 counts, even if the deceased exhibited
no symptoms or was never tested, because (according to officials there) they “probably”
were affected by the virus.
See a pattern emerging? It’s a race to claim more victims;
more deaths mean more sympathy. More
sympathy means less resistance to compensating victims and their families.
It will be difficult to push back on compensating victims
and their families because the media will scream about how cruel we are to even
consider turning our backs on them. Surely they deserve something for their
loss?
No. Honestly, they don’t.
Yes, it was a deadly virus, much like the seasonal flu. But we’ve never compensated the families of
those who died from the seasonal flu in the past, or from other diseases and conditions
that routinely kill many more Americans each year.
We shouldn’t compensate these families now, either.
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