"Less Money for Dead People"

Yahoo! News was headlining an article that said:

President Barack Obama on Thursday signed legislation intended to slash by $50 billion the taxpayer money improperly paid to dead people, fugitives and those in jail who shouldn't be getting benefits.

According to the news story $110 billion was spent last year (yikes!). I'm always happy to see the government cutting the money they spend on stupid things - but there far more cuts the government should be making. That is another story though. To see the full article about how Obama wants to give less money to dead people (oh yea - and fugitives and those in jail) click here.

This article reminded me of just how much money people blow on death. According to Funerals with Love , many funerals cost over $10,000 not including the burial! Caskets easily cost from $1-5,000 dollars. Holy crap! Cremation is a cheaper alternative, running from $800 to $2,000 - just don't get a fancy urn! Why are people so obsessed with death and burial? What good is a dead corpse?

A dead corpse can actually do a world of good - but not when buried or cremated**.
If everyone would get over themselves and donate their bodies to science / medical facilities, their families could save money and our society could reap the benefit of more science / medical research and more organs available for transplants. An average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant! These are needless deaths. Many religious people think they need their bodies for the rapture. I would think people would only care about their soul, but no. Churches always have a cemetery. Church goers should be humane right? So maybe churches should stop letting people use their cemeteries and demand that people donate their cadaver. You don't need your corpse, your family doesn't need your corpse, and god doesn't need your corpse.

If you want to a) help people and b) save loved ones a possible $10,000+ then donate your corpse!

Christian sects for the most part no longer oppose cremation - praise Jesus! - but most people still pick burial. The body is not sacred, and if god exists, then he can resurrect you without your decomposed corpse. The church and all people should stop devoting so much time and energy to the dead. Catholics pray incessantly for the dead - something which many of their other christian brethren do not comprehend. Catholics will pray for a deceased person to go to heaven or to be happy with god etc. Excuse me? If god and heaven exist in the biblical sense, then your dead family member is immediately either there or not there - permanently. This is irrevocable. Not even Moses gets to go to heaven - why would your prayer change the big G's opinion?

Let's celebrate life - use death to help those living.

**Cremation could have benefits if the heat produced from burning bodies was used to produce electricity. Sadly though, no one would go for that choice. Fossil fuel is running out, but human fuel is increasing.