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Jewish World Review /Dec. 30, 1998 /11 Teves, 5759
Walter Williams
Things I wonder about
(JWR) ---- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com)
THERE ARE THINGS THAT REALLY PUZZLE ME. For example, some insurers
advertise bargain life-insurance rates provided you don't have a
life-shortening lifestyle. Being a non-smoker is one of them.
That's actuarially sound policy because smokers risk a shorter life
expectancy; but insurance companies don't advertise lower rates to
non-homosexuals. After all homosexuals, as a group -- because of AIDS --
have a shorter life expectancy than either smokers or heterosexuals. You
say, "That would be discrimination against homosexuals!" But my question is
why is it acceptable for insurance companies to discriminate against smokers
but not homosexuals?
Then there are those TV fund-raising commercials featuring emaciated,
forlorn looking children in other lands. The speaker says we can help this
little child have nutritious meals, and get a good education and better
housing if we'd donate $21 a month.
Then later on in the commercial, the
formerly forlorn-looking child is happy and playful. I say great! How come
we can't do the same thing domestically? Twenty-one dollars a month is a
darn sight cheaper than what we're paying for all our welfare programs.
Let's look at some statistics before my next puzzlement. The Census Bureau
reports that the 1997 median income for 25- to 34-year-olds was $26,000; for
those in the 55 to 64 age bracket, the median income was $31,000. Net worth
(assets minus liabilities) was a paltry $6,000 for the under-35-year-old
householder and a whopping $91,000 for the 55- to 64-year-old householder.
Older people having higher income and greater wealth makes sense simply
because they've gained skills and had time to accumulate wealth. What I
don't understand is why we have the senior citizen goodies -- discounts,
rebates and handouts for people at the top of the income and wealth heap.
There are instructions that puzzle me, engendering considerable disrespect
for my fellow Americans' intellect, such as warning labels on all manner of
products that read: "Do Not Take Internally." Most often, the product isn't
something one reasonably takes internally, like butter, a can of Coke or a
candy bar. The warnings are on products like paint, bleach and other
cleaning fluids.
I'm wondering how many grown Americans actually took a swig of something
like Minwax, bleach and paint thinners. There's a warning label appearing on
automobile sun screens that people buy to put on their windshield to keep
their cars cool that reads: "Do Not Drive With Screen In Place."
Here's my take. A person dumb enough to drink Minwax, bleach and paint
thinners, or drive with a sun screen in place, is probably also too dumb to
read. In that case, warning labels are a waste.
Speaking of warning labels, there's a debate going on as to whether
mother's milk is good or bad for infants, a preposterous debate considering
the world's population. If the medical authorities conclude that mother's
milk is hazardous, I'm wondering where they're going to put that warning
label.
Finally, there's a seeming conspiracy against parents. You buy your kid all
kinds of pets. In our case, it was birds for our daughter. Typically, the
bird is in the house for a week, a month, several months and out of the
clear blue sky the bird drops dead.
What bird survives? If you said the bird that you bought just before the
kid went off to college, that's not allowed in the dorm, that you now have
to care for, go to the head of the class. In our case, that bird lived
through four years of college and lives on as I write this column, but
fortunately, finally, not with
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