Comments on: My gawd https://habitablezone.com/2012/05/17/my-gawd/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 04:45:30 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2012/05/17/my-gawd/#comment-15088 ER Fri, 18 May 2012 14:45:17 +0000 http://habitablezone.net/?p=15106#comment-15088 Unfortunately, fraud is a white-collar crime, and usually receives white-collar penalties. Unfortunately, fraud is a white-collar crime, and usually receives white-collar penalties.

]]> By: bowser https://habitablezone.com/2012/05/17/my-gawd/#comment-15082 bowser Fri, 18 May 2012 05:38:15 +0000 http://habitablezone.net/?p=15106#comment-15082 These stories, and matters like Medicare fraud, really fry my behind. They provide ammunition to those who criticize social programs, and rightly so. I'm afraid, though, that if one made those programs foolproof the overhead would also be a matter of criticism. And that doesn't excuse these people. And those like them. These folks should not be tried and sentenced on the dollar value of their chiselling - they should be sentenced on the violation of trust. One can make a case, though, that they were simply entrepreneurs taking advantage of loose regulation, much like banks, Madoff and so on. That it is an American tradition, similar to WorldCom and Enron. And they, too, need be shown no mercy from the justice system. These stories, and matters like Medicare fraud, really fry my behind. They provide ammunition to those who criticize social programs, and rightly so. I’m afraid, though, that if one made those programs foolproof the overhead would also be a matter of criticism. And that doesn’t excuse these people. And those like them.

These folks should not be tried and sentenced on the dollar value of their chiselling – they should be sentenced on the violation of trust.

One can make a case, though, that they were simply entrepreneurs taking advantage of loose regulation, much like banks, Madoff and so on. That it is an American tradition, similar to WorldCom and Enron. And they, too, need be shown no mercy from the justice system.

]]>