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FrmrPresJamesTaylor t1_itisizk wrote

Reply to comment by TheOnlyVertigo in A Proposal to Price Everything in the Currency of Child Lives Not Saved by phileconomicus

I say we put this nonsense to bed, there are 2.2bn children on earth and for the very reasonable price of $4k per head (or $8.8 trillion) we can save them all and return our focus to less important matters.

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Simple_Rules t1_itjg3y1 wrote

The funniest part is that this article is trying to make an economic argument without even pausing to consider that since aid programs are underfunded, they are obviously serving the most easily saved children first.

Each child doesn't cost exactly the same amount of money to save, and the current estimates presumably are based on trying to save the most easily saved children.

I bet you that number doubles or triples or quadruples real fast, once you actually start seriously spending money on it.

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TheOnlyVertigo t1_itit7h5 wrote

I’d love for it to be that simple.

But no complex system is, and the onus is on all of us to contribute to resolving the problem, and since the true ability to control public policy, on a global scale, is effectively out of the hands of the overwhelmingly vast majority of us because of competing groups that want the power to manipulate everything in their favor, we are basically screwed.

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FrmrPresJamesTaylor t1_ititxk4 wrote

Yes. Sorry, I was just ridiculing the concept by raising the fact that the sum total cost to “save all children” is actually within reach (it’s about 25% more than the US federal governments current year-to-date expenditure).

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TheOnlyVertigo t1_itiu36s wrote

My bad. Misunderstood your point.

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FrmrPresJamesTaylor t1_itiu6s5 wrote

No worries! It was probably too “low effort” for this sub to be completely honest.

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TheOnlyVertigo t1_itiug0o wrote

It’s easy to assume someone may be taking an opposing view of what you say on Reddit these days, given the sheer level of trolling you run across, I made a hasty conclusion.

I’m probably too dumb for this sub myself, but I like to think I’m at least a little bit intellectual on occasion.

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