It is going to sound harsh, but sooner or later resources are going to be limited and we'll have to start making those decisions. For eg: china. There was a movie a long time ago about a law written that only 1 child per couple and the woman had to escape to Canada in order to save her unborn baby.
But:
Yes, the kids with down's will more likely a burden on society. Now unless the healthy one becomes a career criminal. Even then I agree that ALL prisoners should be put to work in order to pay for their incarceration.
That is based solely on earnings which is irrelevant in this conversation. We're not talking monetary worth, we're talking about contribution to society. Now if the 20 mill actor invested half of his earnings into research on things like, green energy, food production, etc and Henry WInkler kept all his in the bank? Then yes, the actor who makes 20 mill is worth more than HW.
Yes, she is at the latter part of her life and will become more of a burden on society's resources more and more as she ages. The odds are that the 30 yr old will have 30 more years of productive life.
Put it in perspective: compare a 1981 camaro to a 2011 camaro. The new one is safer, better handling, better fuel economy, less polluting, more efficient, more comfortable, etc etc.
And to be perfectly blunt: if one is convicted of murder and there is 100% proof positive that they were the one who did it (caught in the act, caught on camera, unimpeachable witness) then yeah, their life IMO isn't worth a pinch of raccoon shit and I'd be more than happy to pull the lever.....
As for tweakers and crackheads roaming the streets? I say fuck em. They made their choice, no one held a gun to their head and forced the pipe into their mouth. I say ship em off to James Bay with only the clothes on their back and a hatchet.
Who makes that decision? [/QUOTE]