Thursday, April 25, 2013

When Is Too Much Security Too Much? | Cato Institute

When Is Too Much Security Too Much? | Cato Institute: "A society would make better public-policy decisions as to how much to spend on protection i.e., policing, firefighting, first-response medical systems, and the military if we viewed these expenditures as we do other forms of insurance. A rational person does not spend far more for homeowners and business insurance than the home or business is worth. Most people do not have $100 million in life insurance, because they cannot afford it and because they also implicitly realize that their lives are probably not worth that much."

"we greatly overspend on airline security (because the rare crash is big news) relative to driving, bicycling and walking. According to an analysis published in the American Scientist, “to make flying as dangerous as using a car, a four-plane disaster on the scale of 9/11 would have to occur every month.” The hassles and time loss of going through airline screening causes some people to drive more and fly less (estimates are in the 5 percent range), so the folks at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are inadvertently causing more lives to be lost than necessary. "

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