What we pay for our fears

From alarm systems to insurance policies to airport security, preparation for the calamities we fear always comes with a price tag. Find out which ones are worth it.

By Liz Weston, MSN Money

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38Comments
Joe BECKFORD (Online Alaska)
Aug 8, 2012 8:47PM
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Whosoever would give up liberty for some measure of security will have neither liberty nor security and deserves neither.  BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
jotitdown
Aug 8, 2012 11:47PM
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TSA -  what a total waste of time and money.  Time and again we hear about something or someone getting through The Stupidist Agency on the planet's 'safety net'.  America could have the best health care on the planet for what this agency has cost us ..... and we are no safer than we were a decade ago.  Sad.
hd-78109
Aug 8, 2012 8:41PM
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No Matter how you look at it, the terrorists have won.  They now make us pay to be snooped upon by a bunch of lowlifes we pay.   The TSA is way out of control.  They molest, they steal, they are rude and actually useless.  They need to be replaced by people who actually give a damn about thier jobs and safety at the same time.  They believe they are untouchable and they get away with crap nobody would ever allow anywhere else.
Taglio1972
Aug 8, 2012 8:36PM
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For a country that was afraid of nothing we have become a country that is afraid of everything.  One day we will find away to lock our selves in our homes to work, deal with everything on line.  May God help us because it does not seem that we can help ourselves.
Kamity
Aug 8, 2012 11:15PM
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Any candidate who vows to abolish the TSA has my vote.  Too bad it will be another 10 years before I can run for president. ;)
mig-70
Aug 8, 2012 10:56PM
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it is a big business for the makers of the scanning  machines in airports, TSA what a joke  just like Dick cheney son got the contract to plug, burie   abandoned mines costing hundreds of thousand of dollars the elite owns and sells all this stuff, the uniforms, boots,  weapons etc, etc they sell to the military (big money for them) they sell weapons to the drug dealers and the government   of mexico Both  sides !!!    just one example 
there are the ones behind this 
Im not a heater   Im an Immigrant.
 I came here because of the greatest constitution ever!!  and my point is that this is supposed to be the " land of the free " and is becoming the land of the laws and scared :/ 
Marlen Jacobs (toothcoach)
Aug 8, 2012 10:06PM
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"Death by a thousand cuts" a quote from one of the extremeist groups in the middle East.  For us that means bleeding us dry of money with all the ultra security measures that we employ to "be safe".  The enemy is more clever than we are...they employ tactics to destroy us from the inside out, especially financially.  Think about how much terrorism has cost in terms of dollars spent to keep us secure.....and then again, we will really never know if we are safe, will we?
American in Switzerland
Aug 9, 2012 2:11AM
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TSA = Terrorists Suckered America or Terrorists Scared America/Americans. Either way they have won as long as the TSA is around. Let's start taking care of America's security by taking pages from Israel and the way they deal with terrorists.
ashleymalagant
Aug 8, 2012 8:55PM
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What WE pay for YOUR fears. Some of us aren't pants-pissing cowards. Thank you very much.
Deckie106
Aug 9, 2012 8:49AM
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disband TSA......and let the country return to normal.....this state of affairs is being artificially exaggerated by those now encysted in the gvmt's system like a bad cancer.....jejejejej​je
Someone (J.Z.)
Aug 9, 2012 1:16AM
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Ha ha. You could classify the entire military-industrial complex under "what we pay for our fears."
9Jr38462
Aug 8, 2012 9:49PM
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Fear is big  money now. The more fear corporations can imbed in the American citizens minds the more they make. Unfortunately these so called Americans have become Americans worst enemy, more than anyone or thing 1000's of miles away or overseas. Our nation is changing and not necessarily for the best.
M. M.
Aug 9, 2012 12:18PM
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Land of the Puss* Home of the Sissy
patker
Aug 8, 2012 9:02PM
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Taglio 1972

 

I agree with your comment on fear. We are becoming a country of isolation. The world has

changed a lot in the past 20 years. There was a time when people got together more frequently and went to see each other. We have the technology where we don't need people as much. God help people if this is going to continue.

Maximum Bob
Aug 9, 2012 9:57AM
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Besides this forum's moderator being asleep at the wheel as far as the spammers/bot are concerned, this article had to have been written by one of Ms. Weston's summer interns and she never saw it before it was posted. It is poorly written and basically says we have to pay a price for living in a paranoid, sue - happy, confused country, with the Government being our only saving grace. Good luck with that one.

Thanks, Ms. Weston's silly little intern. Most people reading this article won't even comment and your "hit count" is mainly spam. Hope you're so proud of yourself as a budding media practitioner.
Legion-of-No-One
Aug 9, 2012 1:04PM
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"Fear is big business in America."

 

Just end the article there. I think it's safe to say that Americans (specifically USA citizens) are ruled by fear. They are so afraid of death they give up every right they were granted by the Constitution. Thanks to the push for selfish mindsets, shallow perceptions, materialism based goals there is no longer any real need to look outside the box. We've brought this upon ourselves by believing that we only have one shot (true) and so we have to protect it like a rare Pokemon or Magic card. Keep it in a sleeve; In a thick binder; with styrophoam to preserve it. As a result of this greed for self satisfaction we've come to view death as the worst thing in the world and we allow the US government to screw us with NDAA, TSA, Patriot Act, SOPA, Drones in US airspace and whatever else is thrown at us as the next "Security Measure" in order to FEEL safe. It's beyond pathetic. I'm wholly apathetic to a people that would embrace such cowardly way of living.

 

You can cling to your guns and your security systems; you can hold on to the government's hand; you can beg for protection from every boogey-man they warn you about... No matter what you have protecting you: You. Will. Die. Death is inevitable. You cower like a scared puppy when you should be embracing this fact and living with courage. My friends, you will die. Your friends will die. Your children will die. This can not be changed. Nor should it. So live as best you can. Instead of letting someone or something take away even the options of what is best.

 

And remember: Puppets don't live.

oleshep
Aug 9, 2012 12:49PM
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Paranoia is at epidemic levels in America now.  It seems that everyone is afraid of something.  We have hand sanitizer everywhere to protect us from germs, video surveilance everywhere to protect us from what ever, security screenings for almost everything, insurance plans for everything imaginable, and the list goes on and on.  Some of them make a modicum of sense but many of the things that we fear are less likely to happen than winning the lottery or getting hit by lightening. 

 

We like to brag about American rugged individualism but that left us long ago.  Now we are becoming a bunch of spineless wimps who fear our own shadows in my opinion.  Little wonder that many of our kids today are into 'extreme' sports.  Everyone around them have become boring fraidy cats.  LOL  The good news is that they are our future if the cowards don't screw it up for them before they get their chance. 

when789
Aug 8, 2012 9:05PM
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Yes, we just need a killing by cop insurance, last year 762 was shot and killed by police, and almost 5000 were killed being chased, or by police car accidents(sometimes hard to prove when the victim is dead), but the insurance would be helpful, since police almost never gets arrested for killing people in USA--very different in the rest of the western world in police killings.
Mr. Anthrope
Aug 9, 2012 12:14PM
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Though some of these items are valid and good ideas, such as the child-safety items, and property and life insurance, most of the rest of them are just a sad testament to how fearful we have become as a society.  I, for one, choose not to live my life in fear.  I take reasonable precautions, not placing myself in obviously dangerous places or situations, but other than that, what happens just happens.  We are so paranoid that we worry about stuff like getting hit by lightning.  If you aren't standing on a hill in a thunderstoem, under a tree, holding a metal rod skyward, your chances of getting struck are so low they are nearly non-existent.  Living in constant fear will eventually kill you.
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