Ban Everything!

This Buckyballs controversy raises several interesting questions about how far government should go to protect consumers.

I want to draw attention to Betty Lopez's statement, though. She says "Any child's life is worth more than $50 million."  This is one of those statements that is hard to dispute without sounding callous, but let me try the ad absurdum approach.

Do you think Betty Lopez has a number where she would no longer make this statement?  Do you think she would say, "Any child's life is worth more than $1 billion"?  I can imagine her saying "No amount of money is worth a child's life."  Which is true in a sense.  Anyone willing to sell their child for any amount of money deserves scorn.

However, think of all the lives we could save by banning bicycles.  In essence, you're arguing Buckyballs' case.  We don't want to ban bicycles because the benefits of bicycles are much greater than the regretful children's deaths.  We've already made those decisions.  Any activity can lead to death, but that's not the argument we should make.  We should compare the benefits and costs of banning and regulating.  Ms. Lopez's statement is much too universal for me.