… is from page 57 of Thomas Sowell’s 1999 book, Barbarians Inside the Gates:
One of the grandiloquent phrases used to silence those who complain about the economic costs of government policies to reduce some remote danger is this: “It’s worth it, no matter what it costs, if it saves just one life!”
This kind of talk might allow the anointed to feel nobler than thou, but stifling the economy with safety regulations – killing the goose that lays the golden egg – will itself cost human lives. A faster growing economy can easily save more lives than trying to stamp out some danger that affects very few people, if it affects anybody.
