Paulson’s War Against Shame

Conservatives have rightly blamed the welfare state for weakening the formerly strong stigma which had kept the poor independent of government.

In The Tragedy of American Compassion, for example, Marvin Olasky faults Frances Fox Piven, Michael Harrington and other leftists for waging a “War Against Shame” during the 1960s that created more welfare dependents.

Now, Henry Paulson has done Piven one better. He has urged bankers to take government money as a patriotic duty: “Paulson said he wanted healthy institutions that did not necessarily need capital from the government to go first as a way of removing any stigma that might be associated with banks getting bailouts.”

David T. Beito, a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and a retired professor of history at the University of Alabama, is the co-author of T.R.M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Pioneer and is writing a new book, FDR’s War on the Bill of Rights.
Beacon Posts by David Beito | Full Biography and Publications
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