N001992
Friday, January 18, 2002 12:21 PM
Exaggeration of the award amount
I hope that future public comments by Mr. Feinberg will clarify that,
under the interim rules, the average payout from the fund under the
interim rules will NOT be $1.65 million (which has been repeated over
and over in the press and elsewhere). Of course, those who take the
time to "read the fine print" know that the average payout under the
interim rules will be much less due to deductions for "collateral
source" income. But the average member of the public, not directly
affected by the tragedy, is unlikely to take that extra time. This
disinformation is not helpful to public debate about whether the interim
calculations for presumed economic and non-economic losses are
reasonable compensation for the loss of the victim.
Here is but one example of how that kind of misunderstanding skews
public debate about the fund and its rules. I have read many repeated
comments apparently submitted to you by the voter.com website that
purport to inform you of their latest poll results on the question "Does
the government's aid program for families of Sept. 11 victims goes far
enough?" I looked at that website and found that voter.com (or whoever
else submits those repeat comments) omitted the rest of the question.
(You can verify this too, unless they have changed the question in the
mean time). Next to the YES button is the further clarification that
"The families will get an average of $1.65 million each to help them
rebuild their lives." (Wonder where they got that figure?) Moreover, a
NO vote (according to the explanation next to the NO button) requires
the voter to believe that that a $1.65 million average payout is not
merely too low -- but is indeed "ludicrous." Not exactly a fair way to
pose the question if you want to sample true and informed public
opinion. Hopefully, this attempt to mislead the rulemakers will be
properly ignored.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Individual Comment
Frankfurt, Germany