Beneficiaries Again (Fred Speaking)
		Comment				MAIN PATH: Malik
		Ann				Malik

Almost no one thinks that we should compensate the Irish or the Jews today for discrimination that occurred in the past. First of all, both the Irish and the Jews today have above average incomes. The Jews have done even better than the Irish. They seem to have overcome the legacy of discrimination. What else is needed? Second, it would be almost impossible to trace out the effects of the injustice done in the 19th century and decide who still suffers from it. For these same reasons we should not compensate well off blacks. If we did, we should compensate the well off Jews and Irish. Isn't that a little crazy?

I also want to go back to what Ann and Malik said before about beneficiaries.

We sometimes require innocent beneficiaries of injustice to give things back. But we do that only when the cost to the beneficiary is small. Here's Robert Fullinwider's example: If you hire a company to repair your driveway and someone tricks them into repairing mine, I am an innocent beneficiary. If I could transfer the improvements to you at no cost, I should. But no one thinks that I should have to pay a large cost.

Not getting a job can be a major cost, especially when years of preparation are required to do the work. Hence the innocent white beneficiary should not be required to pay such a price.

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