No bail-out

Letter (unpublished) to San Diego Union-Tribune:

No Bail-out! Why should we trust this "sky-is-falling" administration which previously duped America into a failed War on Terror while allowing little-to-no debate. Now we're to have a War on Falling Prices? Throwing more money at the "problem" is analogous to opening a new bar tab for a chronic drunk. Where does this $700 billion come from anyway? Each additional dollar created by the Fed devalues all existing dollars in circulation. What we really need is a War on Debt as government and citizens learn to live within their means.

Government to prop up housing

Letter (published) to the San Diego Union-Tribune:

I agree with what Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston said last week: “Taxpayers should not have to absorb preventable, foreseeable losses.” Lenders and borrowers deserve to reap what they've sown. No money down? Liar's loans? Revolving lines of credit? Banks should have known better.

Similarly, I have little sympathy for “naive” buyers who used nonstandard loans to borrow more than they could afford, assuming that rising values would allow them to refinance. Others used their homes as ATMs, pulling out equity to live beyond their means. All are learning property values don't go up forever.

Plenty of people sat on the sidelines waiting for the housing bubble to end. Why should government prop up housing prices? Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Do we live in a socialist or capitalist nation? Let the free market reign.

BRENT McDONALD
San Diego

Union-Tribune link