If you're attempting the first ever landing on the moon, taking out life insurance might not be a bad idea.But for Neil Armstrong, who was on a federal salary of just $17,000 at the time of the moon landing in 1969, there was no way to afford the $50,000-a-year policy - more than $300,000 in today's money.
So the astronaut came up with an inventive way to make sure his family were provided for should he not return - he signed a series of space-themed envelopes they could sell.
Running that through the Inflation Calculator, that works out to $106,124.47 in today's dollars -- a good salary by most people's lights, but chump change for that noble laity that infests deigns to rule over us. That'd be what a junior manager gets, let alone what the more senior stumblebums shovel in in our grotesquely overpaid governments (Alberta Health and ORNGE, anyone?). I have to laugh at the claim that we have to pay these premium salaries to attract "the best." Good God, if those are the best . . .
Armstrong certainly was a far braver and more accomplished man than any civil servants I can think of. It'd be tempting to send them all to the moon, mostly because we can be pretty confident that none of them could find their way back.
Comments (3)
I find it bizarre that the government did not provide free life insurance for Armstrong. They strap his ass to the world's largest Roman candle and tell his family they're on their own?
Posted by rabbit | September 2, 2012 7:20 PM
Posted on September 2, 2012 19:20
yes
it only makes sense if it was done on a set
with little effort or risk involved ...............OMG .....WAS THAT MY OUTSIDE VOICE?
Posted by MIKE | September 2, 2012 9:11 PM
Posted on September 2, 2012 21:11
Armstrong was at the time of the moonshot, an active (or seconded out to NASA) pilot in the US military. There's a legal principle called "sovereign immunity" ( the Canadian military has a different term for it, which I can't for the life of me remember) that generally prevents soldiers, airmen, etc., from suing for death/injuries incurred in following legitimate orders, no matter how misguided.
Had he perished, his heirs would only be entitled to a free funeral service, and his widow a portion of his military pension.
I'm pretty sure, though, that the government and private donors would have topped that up quite generously.
Posted by gnotalex | September 2, 2012 9:28 PM
Posted on September 2, 2012 21:28