Stock Values

When analysts value a company they must take into account productivity, growth, inventory turnover, net worth and etc. My thesis is that the same principals should be applied when you determine the value of a human life. After all an individual that produces more and is more difficult to replace is much more valuable to the society than the one who grows like a weed and contributes nothing. Let''s look at some basic statistics: 2000 World Jewish population: 13 million 2000 World Muslim population: 1300 million 1995 - 2005 Jewish population growth rate: 1% 1995 - 2005 Muslim population growth rate: 25% 2003 per capita Income Israel (total population including all non-Jews): $19,200 2003 per capita income Lebanon (total population. No Jews in Lebanon): $4,840 Simplistically speaking 1 Jewish life is worth 100 Muslim lives. But, wait Muslims multiply much faster than Jews, so it is 25 times more difficult to make up the loss of a single Jewish life, than it is a Muslim life, so one Jew is really worth 2,500 Muslims. Not so quick, an Israeli Jew is at least 4 times (19,200/4,840) as productive as a Lebanese, so multiply that by 4. As you can tell, this rough calculation shows that Israelis must kill 10,000 Lebanese just to stay even! I say, Israelis are not only not overreacting in Lebanon, they are are exercising ultimate restraint and certainly not doing enough to stay even!