Business

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, July 14, 2008 Value of life isn't what it used to be By Mike Benbow I had a lot of ideas about what to write about today, but none of them seemed like a complete column. So here's a little bit of this and a little bit of that: Life is cheaper The Associated Press reported last week that the dollar isn't the only thing losing value these days. Now the government is saying that a human life is worth $1 million less than it was five years ago. The bad news comes from the Environmental Protection Agency, which sets the value of a statistical life at $6.9 million today. The figure is used to determine whether regulations should be more or less stringent. For example, the agency might look at the cost of a regulation and the value of the lives it might save to weigh whether its important to approve some new rule. The EPA says the figures come from calculations on what people are willing to pay to avoid certain risks and from how much extra employers pay workers to take on additional risks. The figures come from payroll statistics and opinion surveys. Some of the people who want more regulation think something is amiss. "It appears that they're cooking the books in regards to the value of life," S. William Becker told the Associated Press. He's executive director of a group of clean air agencies. "These decisions are literally a matter of life and death," he added. Investment advice The late Art Rooney Sr., who bought the founding National Football League franchise for the city of Pittsburgh, made a pretty smart investment. The team, originally called the Pirates, was purchased in 1933 in the height of the Depression for $2,500. It was renamed the Steelers in 1941. Rooney died in 1988. His son Dan is chairman of the team. Dan and his four brothers each have a 16 percent stake, giving the family 80 percent ownership. A year ago, Forbes magazine valued the Steelers at $1 billion. Today, Rooney's kids are fighting over whether to sell the team. Analysts say the franchise's value is now closer to $1.2 billion. I think there are two morals to this story. The first is that a good investment, well cared for, can grow astronomically given enough time. The second is that if you give that investment to your kids, they will screw things up, because at least one will either want more money or be eager to get at the dough sooner. Dumbfounded A recent news item out of New York state said in part: "Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says two of the nation's largest Internet providers have removed newsgroups that feature child pornography. AT&T, the nation's largest Internet service provider, and AOL, the third largest, also agreed to purge their servers of child porn Web sites." Maybe I'm reading way too much into this, but since when does any reputable media organization need prodding from legal authorities to remove child pornography? I probably should be cheering them on for the action, but I wonder why organizations such as AOL and AT&T would allow newsgroups featuring child pornography to establish themselves in the first place. Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com.

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