From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Wed Sep 05 2001 - 08:23:46 MDT
Dan Clemmensen wrote:
>
> Conclusion: If you want the biggest return for your tax dollar, spend
> it on educating the public about these risks, or simply flatly outlaw
> tobacco.
The fact is that at this point in time, extending human life produces no
positive return on investment. Retirement ages are fixed, so any
extension in human life only increases the demand for social security
funding and the further increase in confiscatory taxation that funds it.
The VA has very good stats on this (don't have a link at present), but
the DoD found in the 80's that their programs to get veterans and aging
active duty personnel to quit smoking and drinking resulted in an
explosion in VA costs as vets lived far longer, and at far greater
expense to the military retiree health care system, than if they
remained addicted and just conveniently died off several years after
retirment.
If you want a return on your tax dollar, index the retirment age to the
average life expectancy.
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