Moral Hazard, the Oath of Office, and Treason

[Demeter]

OpEdNews

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_lobdillj_070925_moral_hazard_2c_the_oa.htm


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September 26, 2007

Moral Hazard, the Oath of Office, and Treason

By lobdillj


Moral hazard has become a standard feature of governmental law and policy-making in modern times. Of course, it was always with us to some extent, moreso in times of gilded ages. What is moral hazard?


Here are a few definitions of the term:


1. A situation in which someone insured against risks will purposely engage in risky behavior, knowing that any costs incurred will be compensated by the insurer. A financial system which offers "rescue packages" may encourage borrowers and lenders to undertake low-quality or high-risk investments, thus increasing the likelihood of a crisis.
highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072487488/student_view0/glossary.html

2. The tendency of individuals, firms, and governments, once insured against some contingency, to behave so as to make that contingency more likely. A pervasive problem in the insurance industry, it also arises internationally when international financial institutions assist countries in financial trouble.
www-personal.umich.edu/~alandear/glossary/m.html

3. A situation in which one of the parties to an agreement has an incentive, after the agreement is made, to act in a manner that brings additional benefits to himself or herself at the expense of the other party.
www.econ100.com/eu5e/open/glossary.html

4. In law and economics, moral hazard is the name given to the risk that one party to a contract can change their behavior to the detriment of the other party once the contract has been concluded.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_hazard


In modern times, at least, the creation of moral hazard has become the principal technique by which elected officials reward donors and themselves while pretending ignorance of the peril their conspiracy with powerful interests imposes upon the electorate.


The oath of office of many elected officials includes an obligation to “preserve, protect, and defend” the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It is the thesis of this essay that the creation and/or defense of laws and policies which create a moral hazard whose costs are borne by society at large is a violation of the oath of office, tantamount to treason, and should be so regarded by the justice system.


In our present state of affairs, governments routinely create moral hazards at the insistence, and usually with the advisory help of business interests. When the inevitable damage is obvious they say, “Whoops! We didn’t realize such a turn of events was possible!” Then they move on to their next order of business, as it were, and the public with no further adieu picks up the tab. Each successive incidence of moral hazard begets additional ones as officials see how successful their duplicity has been. For example, Ford’s preemptive pardon of Nixon for Watergate crimes begat the abuses of the George W. Bush administration. It has become clear that presidents are above the law. The deregulation of the Savings and Loan industry resulted in the colossal losses and bailouts of the 1980s, a disaster for the public that was entirely foreseeable. These are just a very few of the moral hazard examples that litter the landscape of our nation.


Today we see Congress creating a moral hazard in Iraq while each political party tries to pin the blame on the other. Corporations smile all the way to the bank while needless thousands die. Our environmental assets are auctioned off to the highest bidder to be squandered and destroyed for profit. Our healthcare is the poorest of any First World nation thanks to moral hazards permitting pharmaceutical corporations to bleed the public. Our national security has been privatized and compromised, resulting in the purchase of port security contracts by foreign interests that have fostered known terrorists. Our national sovereignty has been sold to the World Trade Organization through treaties whose perilous provisions are obvious to any intelligent reader. And on and on.








Authors Bio: I am a retired physicist and a progressive. I loathe GWB and the neocons. It is time to impeach him and purge the pseudo government of all neocons. Their ideas are treasonous. I occasionally blog at www.demspeak.com.

[izzie]

1. This I want to chew over some more it is so interesting.

I have got into my mind this type of thinking of late. We are an old republic and it may be that other have picked up the ball and are running with it as we slip into decay. Generally I just think things go in waves but I have been doing some thinking on that. What if we have just gone to far in to the moral decay that seem to be all around us? Just thinking of a few things makes me wonder. Like say the prison system we now have or the military/business/Wall Street/world bases love fest. We do seem to decay from the top down in our history but then the top usually means that the voters have put him there, so it must be a whole society thing.

[Demeter]

2. Be My Guest--Plenty of Food for Thought for All!