The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe:
“The Greek mess is complicated, but in sorting through complex messes it’s useful to start with simpler cases and build up.
“All sides in the discussion are appealing to moral considerations about responsibility, fairness, and prudence. Part of the debate is over what those principles mean. An intimately-related part of the debate involves sorting the many parties involved and figuring out what each owes and is owed.
“Two pairs of competing moral principles are in conflict:
(1) Always repay your debts, and (2) If you have bad habits, reform your ways,
versus
(3) Show mercy for those in distress and (4) You can’t get wine from a stone.
“Here is a simpler case: Consider your ne’er-do-well cousin Stevie. He works sporadically. He lives high on the hog and has much credit card debt, as well as some loans from dodgy characters. Sometimes he tries to cut back on his expenses, but he also has a history of fibbing about his financial condition. He’s also borrowed lots of money from you over the years. Now it’s a family gathering — Stevie shows up, declares he’s broke again and asks for a loan to tide him over.
“What’s the right thing to do? …” [Read more here.]
Previous column in The Good Life series: Understanding Triggers and Microaggression as Strategy (Part 2).