- The Washington Times - Wednesday, March 11, 2009




Now that the federal government has decided to bail out homeowners in trouble, with mortgage loans up to $729,000, that raises some questions that should be asked but seldom are asked.

Since the average American never took out a mortgage loan as big as 700 grand - for the very good reason that he could not afford it - why should he be forced as a taxpayer to subsidize someone else who apparently couldn’t afford it either, but who got in over his head anyway?

Why should taxpayers who live in apartments, perhaps because they did not feel they could afford to buy a house, be forced to subsidize other people who could not afford to buy a house, but who went ahead and bought one anyway?



Who hasn’t been out of work at some time or other, or had an illness or accident that created unexpected expenses? The old and trite notion of “saving for a rainy day” is old and trite precisely because this has been a common experience for a very long time.

What is new is the current notion of indulging people who refused to save for a rainy day or to live within their means. In politics, it is called “compassion” - which comes in both the standard liberal version and “compassionate conservatism.”


The current political stampede to stop mortgage foreclosures proceeds as if foreclosures are just something that strikes people like a bolt of lightning from the blue - and as if the people facing foreclosures are the only people that matter.

What if the foreclosures are not stopped?

Will millions of homes just sit empty? Or will new people move into those homes, now selling for lower prices - prices perhaps more within the means of the new occupants?






The old and trite phrase “sadder but wiser” is old and trite for the same reason that “saving for a rainy day” is old and trite. It reflects an all too common human experience.


Worse, the subsidizing of bad decisions destroys one of the most effective sources of better decisions - namely, paying the consequences of bad decisions.


Thomas Sowell is a nationally syndicated columnist.

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