How much is a human life worth? Could you hazard a guess at the federal government's answer? Try $8 million, give or take a couple, depending on the agency that's coming up with the figure. An article published by The New York Times about the process of setting the value of a human life caught our interest. The government must have a system in place to come up with this number, so it can set safety regulations for businesses. But each agency seems to have a different formula for coming up with the figure.

Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and author of The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty talks about how we have the ability to end poverty despite the economic downturn.

Wrapped up as we are in our current recession, it’s hard for many of us to think about giving to charity. But Professor Peter Singer says that it is our ethical duty to give to charity even, maybe especially, now. He joins us in studio to talk about his latest book, The Life You Can Save.

Watch Peter Singer discuss the country's foreign aid spending.