The comments, coming from a man who last week worked with the vice-president, Joe Biden, to broker a last-minute agreement to stave off a punitive austerity package that could have plunged America back into recession, will be taken as a drawing of a line in the sand by Republican negotiators.
In January, as protesters were preparing to bundle into the Wisconsin state capitol to support unions, Governor Scott Walker signed a package that caps punitive damages for personal injuries, among other provisions.
Declaring it was guaranteeing Italians' "right not to be afraid", it has introduced a "security package" consisting of punitive measures against illegal immigrants in general and foreign Roma (or Gypsies) in particular.
This insistence on a warning in advertising -- in addition to the existing warning on the package label -- is punitive in spirit.
In May, as part of a package of "counter-sanctions" in response to punitive measures imposed by America, the Russian government said it was withdrawing cooperation from the ISS.
It would set up a single jurisdiction to handle claims and restrict punitive damages in a manner similar to the $15 billion airline bailout package recently signed into law.
Consumer experts say the narrow range of players means uniformly poor customer service: punitive fees on unauthorised overdrafts, puny returns on Isas, inflexibly packaged accounts and a lemming-like rush to mis-sell payment protection insurance.
But rather than house-building targets that pale into insignificance in the context of demand, an effective package of measures must include properly taxing undeveloped land with planning permission, punitive taxes on empty homes, and a long-overdue revaluation of council tax bands.
A condition of US aid packages in countries such as Colombia demands that governments implement increasingly punitive measures to end drug wars every year.
Its conclusions: A package that included a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages, a $500,000 cap on punitive damages and a one-year statute of limitations for claims by adults would save about $11 billion a year -- 40 percent from reduced malpractice premiums and the rest in the form of fewer defensive procedures like M.R.I.'s.
