Andrea Batista Schlesinger

Bok bok bok bok bok.

Yesterday, President Bush announced his plan to prepare for an outbreak of avian flu. His plan calls for spending 1.2 billion to buy 20 million doses of a vaccine.

20 million? Why that's only enough to cover 6.7 percent of the American population! But let's not be too surprised. Fact is, there are lots of ways in which we tolerate some things being true for ten percent of the population that aren't for the rest.

For example, the wealthiest 10% own 71% of all private wealth in this country and the richest 10 percent of families own about 85 percent of all outstanding stocks.

But instead of complaining, as the left is wont to do, let's come up with some ideas for how to pick the lucky seven:

You could give the vaccine to everyone who lives in poverty... but it wouldn't be enough, because 12.7 percent of Americans are technically impoverished.

You could give it to the Americans without health insurance, but shoot... it wouldn't be enough, because 15.7 percent of Americans are uninsured.

You could give it to American households that do not have an adequate supply of food, but... oh, I can't believe this, it just wouldn't be enough. In fact, you'd be short 13 million vaccinations.

Or maybe to the eight percent of workers in the private sector who are union members. But that doesn't seem fair, since 42 million Americans according to recent polls would join a union if they could. Rubbing it in wouldn't be very brotherly.

Well, needless to say, we're sure the White House is hard at work figuring out how to divvy up the doses in the absolute fairest way. But if you have any suggestions, please send them our way and we'll gladly pass them on.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 10:20 AM, Nov 02, 2005 in Economy
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