For me the clearest example of this paradox resulted from an article I wrote calling for a "moral obligation" scholarship program in which recipients would have a moral, not legal, obligation to repay the scholarship.
"As a result of poor administration, a lack of monitoring, and the failure to ensure that all parties were adhering to their obligations, a program with a successful record for providing valuable opportunities for the students in the city's vocational high schools is being allowed to fail," said the report, which was completed on June 28.
As a country, we are not highly indebted compared with others, even though we don't account for (or yet have a plan for dealing with) future obligations for programs like Medicare.
Senator Saland also said the federal government had contributed to the problem by increasing state obligations in programs like Medicaid and asking states to assume a bigger role in protecting the nation from terrorism.
Under the new agreement, London Live will only broadcast 5.5 hours of true "first-run" programming a day, and one hour in primetime, the rest of its obligation can be programming that has aired on rival broadcasters.
Republicans denounced the proposal, saying it would add new financial obligations to a program that could not afford its existing commitments.
Another experienced mediator, who declined to be identified because he feared reprisals, was removed from the system after he recommended sanctions for banks that did not meet their obligations under the program.
Ms. Sears had more than passing awareness of her obligations under the program -- she was a frequent campaigner and former chairwoman of the City Council committee that monitors the Campaign Finance Board.
The ABC was failing to fulfil its charter obligation to provide programs that contributed to a sense of national identity because its coverage of regional Australia was dropping, the report, titled Heartland: why the bush needs the ABC, found.
"Nor do we expect BBC3 to treat its statutory obligation for originated programming – that at least 70percentnt of its output is originated, including in peak time - as a 'floor' and we will monitor delivery against this annual quota to ensure this is not the case".
