Memes

The US federal government values the average citizen's life at something like ~$12 million. This is mostly for policy like if 1,000 people a year die from something, say an unsafe ferris wheel design, a solution that would save them costing more than (1,000*12,000,000=)$12 billion would be rejected and considered not worth the economic cost. If the solution were cheaper, and cost like $500 million, then with good lobbying and a reasonable administration, it could easily become a new regulation.

Generally speaking if 5 anybodies went down like this submersible, you'd expect at least some millions to be spent in recovery missions.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2020/07/17/870483369/your-life-is-worth-10-million-according-to-the-government

The ~$12 million figure is what the NHTSA is currently using for its purposes.