At its most basic the democratic contract is a simple one: the right to vote comes with a responsibility to society through tax payments and citizenship.

When I was in Philadelphia during the Depression in 1930 or '31 I got a very sad job as a night watchman in a garage. The cars in the garage had been abandoned by their owners since they had lost their jobs and couldn't keep up the payments.

If our nation goes over a financial Niagara we won't have much strength and eventually we won't have peace. We are currently borrowing the entire defense budget from foreign investors. Within a few years we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security. That is not as our military friends say a 'robust strategy.'

But if our nation goes over a financial Niagara we won't have much strength and eventually we won't have peace. We are currently borrowing the entire defense budget from foreign investors. Within a few years we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security. That is not as our military friends say a 'robust strategy.'

One state retiree 49 years old paid over the course of his entire career a total of $124 000 towards his retirement pension and health benefits. What will we pay him? $3.3 million in pension payments over his life and nearly $500 000 for health care benefits - a total of $3.8m on a $120 000 investment.

Every year the Federal Government wastes billions of dollars as a result of overpayments of government agencies misuse of government credit cards abuse of the Federal entitlement programs and the mismanagement of the Federal bureaucracy.

Conventional wisdom on government's role in inequality often has it backwards. Tax reforms have resulted in a more progressive federal income tax government transfer payments have become less progressive.

Don't forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past present and future wars.

Without in any way minimising the economic and psychological blow that people experience when they lose their jobs the unemployed in affluent countries still have a safety net in the form of social security payments and usually free healthcare and free education for their children. They also have sanitation and safe drinking water.

When you're nearing 35 going 'Hey Dad I can't make these payments ' just isn't cool.

Divorced men are more likely to meet their car payments than their child support obligations.

I'm lucky because my dad taught me to be frugal and save. And that's important because I want to know that I don't have to take an acting job for two or three years if I don't want to and that I'll still be able to make my house and car payments and buy food for my dogs.

The most important loan to pay is your student loan. It's more important than your mortgage car and credit card payments. You cannot discharge student loan debt in the majority of cases.

If you think nobody cares if you're alive try missing a couple of car payments.

Car designers are just going to have to come up with an automobile that outlasts the payments.