He recognized the responsibility factor, when he said, "We do have an obligation to our children, our grandchildren, the earth to think about these things".
At least initially, developing countries like Mexico and Brazil would be exempt from such an obligation, a factor that Mr. Bush has identified as one of the treaty's major weaknesses.
While Lego's London offices will be legally bound to have wheelchair access, the brand is under no obligation to factor in representations of disabled access in its model buildings or include disabled characters in its much-loved mini-figure range, so it just doesn't do it.
It is also better regulated and more protective of tenants than the obligation-free factor system used in Scotland's tenements (the nearest the UK has to the dense apartment housing of Swedish cities) that attempts to transpose an Anglo-Saxon preoccupation with the integrity of property rights on to the realities of living wall-to-wall with others.
Charles Brecher, research director at the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission, said that obligation should be factored in to any decision.
Brobeck, for example, is reported to have had tens of millions of dollars in debt, and that obligation was a significant factor in the decision to wind down, partners said last week.
"These obligations are only one factor among many in our credit analysis".
Moody's Investors Service downgraded San Francisco's debt rating in November, citing the enormous retiree health-care obligations, among other factors.
If we were truly giving out of a sense of obligation, a deduction wouldn't factor into our giving.
When there is a significant gap in socioeconomic positions between two generations, economic factors and family obligation play different roles.
