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I find it interesting that debt is always couched in moral terms for individuals, but business terms for corporations. Somehow it's immoral for individuals to w

I find it interesting that debt is always couched in moral terms for individuals, but business terms for corporations. Somehow it's immoral for individuals to work a system for their advantage, but it's standard operating procedure for a business.

tptacek 16y ago
That's a straw man argument, isn't it? The fact that some pundit somewhere drew a line between Morgan Stanley's contracts and Joe Smith's contracts doesn't mean we have to be held to a different standard on Hacker News. Or, more directly: it's immmoral for businesses to violate contracts too. What's the rest of your argument?
- MichaelSalib 16y ago
  The fact that some pundit somewhere drew a line between... As Felix Salmon points out ( http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/11/30/the-worlds-largest-guilt-trip/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/11/30/the-worlds-... ), we're not talking about some random pundit. We're talking about the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury, and a long list of authoritative figures in civil life. Or, more directly: it's immmoral for businesses to violate contracts too. What's the rest of your argument? Given finite resources for law enforcement, we should prioritize investigation and prosecutions so that a small number of random losers who made a bad moral choice that probably harmed no one get investigated/prosecuted after the rich and powerful people who decided to abandon their own underwriting standards and helped destroy the economy.
  - tptacek 16y ago
    Substitute "President Barack Obama" for "some pundit somewhere" and I don't think my argument changes or loses any force. But, I agree: we shouldn't be creating a task force to go after these people.
- stellar678 16y ago
  This probably won't satisfy you because it's hard to quantify, but: In my experience, the general discourse treats individual debt as a moral responsibility and corporate debt as a contractual/legal responsibility. Which is interesting because people are pretty strongly moved by moral judgements about their actions.
- argv_empty 16y ago
  * Or, more directly: it's immmoral for businesses to violate contracts too.* I applaud you for this statement, but GP is correct that many do not share this belief.

tptacek 16y ago

That's a straw man argument, isn't it? The fact that some pundit somewhere drew a line between Morgan Stanley's contracts and Joe Smith's contracts doesn't mean we have to be held to a different standard on Hacker News. Or, more directly: it's immmoral for businesses to violate contracts too. What's the rest of your argument?

MichaelSalib 16y ago
The fact that some pundit somewhere drew a line between... As Felix Salmon points out ( http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/11/30/the-worlds-largest-guilt-trip/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/11/30/the-worlds-... ), we're not talking about some random pundit. We're talking about the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury, and a long list of authoritative figures in civil life. Or, more directly: it's immmoral for businesses to violate contracts too. What's the rest of your argument? Given finite resources for law enforcement, we should prioritize investigation and prosecutions so that a small number of random losers who made a bad moral choice that probably harmed no one get investigated/prosecuted after the rich and powerful people who decided to abandon their own underwriting standards and helped destroy the economy.
- tptacek 16y ago
  Substitute "President Barack Obama" for "some pundit somewhere" and I don't think my argument changes or loses any force. But, I agree: we shouldn't be creating a task force to go after these people.
stellar678 16y ago
This probably won't satisfy you because it's hard to quantify, but: In my experience, the general discourse treats individual debt as a moral responsibility and corporate debt as a contractual/legal responsibility. Which is interesting because people are pretty strongly moved by moral judgements about their actions.
argv_empty 16y ago
* Or, more directly: it's immmoral for businesses to violate contracts too.* I applaud you for this statement, but GP is correct that many do not share this belief.