You know, the fact of the matter is we have to change how we do things. We are on an imprudent and unsustainable path in a number of ways. You talk about debtors’ prisons, we used to have debtors’ prisons, now bankruptcy is no taint! Bankruptcy is an exit strategy! Our society and our culture has changed. We need to get back to the opportunity, we need to move away from entitlement, we need to provide reasonable risk but we need to hold people accountable when they do imprudent things. It’s pretty fundamental.
–David Walker, CEO of the Peterson Foundation, an organization set up by billionaire Pete Peterson to promote cuts in Social Security and Medicare (CNBC‘s Squawk Box, 6/10/10; MichaelMoore.com, 6/11/10)
“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”
“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.
“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”
“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”
“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigor, then?” said Scrooge.
“Both very busy, sir.”
“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”
–Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Yeah, Walker is showing his “fiscal responsibility”. He must have gotten that tie at the bargain bin at a St Vincent DePaul store.
Nice lit git, Jim.
If only this hard-hearted horseshit was make believe.
So…. I assume Mr Walker is referring to the CEO of GM who was at the helm when they declared bankruptcy recently? I’m sure he wants to take away his golden parachute severance package and put him in jail, right? But perhaps – – due to the also recent Supreme Court decision further enshrining corporations as legal ‘persons’ – -his acute sense of fairness also favors putting GM (or at least it’s upper management staff) into a ‘fiscal prison’ at least. And surely Walker is still mad that W Bush took us from a yearly budget surplus to a large yearly deficit, so he wants him imprisoned too. After all, if “..we need to hold people accountable when they do imprudent things”, then surely there should be a scalar system of penalties whereby a regular Joe who declares bankruptcy goes to debtor’s prison for say 2 yrs, but people who cause bankruptcies on the level of BILLIONS and even TRILLIONS of dollars and create huge problems for this country certainly need to go to prison for several life-terms! We don’t want to coddle them after all…
The problem now is everything controled by money.
Corparations controling our final election resolt after the elected one goes to washington DC.
We can’t have clean election due to everyone wants to get money to campain.
So, if we can have public funding for the election, and MUST STOP “donation”=bribery, then it will be the time our country can be really stand up for the people again, otherwise, we are only going to down hill farther.
Sincerely, this is my little thought.
Jane J.
Seattle
Anti-entitlement what’s that?
Those who work are not entitled to be paid? Those who purchase a car are not entitled to drive it? Those who buy a house are not entitled to live in it?
The article seems to be about “Charity” and we need to be caring from the “less fortunate” among us-if for no other reason than our own self interest and comfort/safety. If, however, the finger is pointing to Social Security and Medicare recipients, it seems to me there is a major problem. Money is taken as a payroll tax from workers– for Social Security and Medicare. All expect the extremely low income workers pay Federal Income Taxes(State and Local too). So whose money is being “doled out”? Some/Most of the “problems” with the Social Security and Medicare Funds have been caused by the Congressional “borrowing” of ALL “surplus” collections in both of these Funds! The borrowing totaled $2.3 Trillion dollars of IOUs-I believe that is mainly from the SS Fund. The Medicare
total is smaller since the program is not as “old”. The first two steps to fiscal responsibility 1)stop borrowing-internally and externally; 2)write a budget that revolves around the revenue to be received (of course without borrowing).
OF COURSE THOSE WHO ARE RECEIVING MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY ARE ENTITLED! A MAJOR PORTION OF THE FEDERAL INCOME IS/WAS FRO PERSONS!M THESE ENTITLED
The last line in my reply should read–A MAJOR PORTION OF THE FEDERAL INCOME IS/WAS FROM THESE ENTITLED PERSONS.
Anti-entitlement what’s that?
Those who work are not entitled to be paid? Those who purchase a car are not entitled to drive it? Those who buy a house are not entitled to live in it?
The article seems to be about “Charity” and we need to be caring from the “less fortunate” among us-if for no other reason than our own self interest and comfort/safety. If, however, the finger is pointing to Social Security and Medicare recipients, it seems to me there is a major problem. Money is taken as a payroll tax from workers– for Social Security and Medicare. All expect the extremely low income workers pay Federal Income Taxes(State and Local too). So whose money is being “doled out”? Some/Most of the “problems” with the Social Security and Medicare Funds have been caused by the Congressional “borrowing” of ALL “surplus” collections in both of these Funds! The borrowing totaled $2.3 Trillion dollars of IOUs-I believe that is mainly from the SS Fund. The Medicare
total is smaller since the program is not as “old”. The first two steps to fiscal responsibility 1)stop borrowing-internally and externally; 2)write a budget that revolves around the revenue to be received (of course without borrowing).
OF COURSE THOSE WHO ARE RECEIVING MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY ARE ENTITLED! A MAJOR PORTION OF THE FEDERAL INCOME IS/WAS FROM THESE ENTITLED PERSONS!