Really, who cares about consequences?

Roger Snow, Las Vegas

Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009 | 2:02 a.m.

Let’s say that tonight after work, I stop at a bar, suck down a few drinks, and on my way home, I swerve across the road and T-bone a sport utility vehicle. Inside are a man, a woman and their two children. Sure, it’s a tragedy, but think of the tremendous economic ripple effect!

First of all, we both need new cars, seeing as I turned mine into a projectile and theirs into a 4,000-pound abstract metal sculpture. Next, with all those contusions and broken bones, it’s going to be a banner day for people who manufacture neck braces, gauze bandages and x-ray film.

Hey, don’t forget the local gas station that sold the fuel to power the police cars, ambulances and medevac helicopters so they could ferry us to the hospital, where grievers will come and buy balloons from the gift shop and sloppy Joes from the cafeteria.

And, of course, the denouement would occur if at least one of the victims were to perish. Talk about a wealth of additional beneficiaries: Casket manufacturers, florists, sympathy card printers, epitaph chiselers, embalmers and grave diggers. Makes “Cash for Clunkers” look like chump change, huh?