Why should the government bail out homeowners?

Editor,

I just don’t understand the course we’re on.
 
Since when is it OK to just walk away from your responsibilities when things don’t work out the way you wanted them to? Many people treated their homes like a day-trade on the stock market. Now that their ‘gamble’ isn’t working out, they seek government bailouts (not unlike their lenders and mortgage companies at my expense as a taxpayer) or the ability to just walk off into the sunset to live a carefree stress-free life. What about all the people that WERE responsible, who didn’t wipe out every penny of their equity, who didn’t run out buying three and four condos, who lived within their means? Why is it now our responsibility to bail these clowns out? It’s just not right.
 
I find myself having a hard time feeling sorry for all these people, especially when Washington wants to tap my tax dollars to bail all these irresponsible people out of their irresponsible decisions. And I’m not falling for all the whining. “Oh, I didn’t KNOW what was happening … Oh, I had NO idea my loan was adjustable … Oh, I didn’t know housing prices would EVER go down…” Are you kidding me? Please spare me the melodramatics.
 
The marching masses of consumer zombies need to wake up and smell the toast burning, which just might be the two brain-cells they have left to rub together. You can’t just live buying everything you want, the minute you want it, and spend more money than you earn. Many people now live like indentured slaves. They owe more than they will ever be able to payoff in a lifetime. Hopefully, they learned their lesson and will encourage others not to make the same mistakes they made.
 
I don’t know how this is all going to end, but I can tell you it won’t be pretty, and it will be a very long time until this whole mess is straightened out. You should forego your “now’s the time to buy” campaign in lieu of a re-education program that explains to people what they can and can’t afford on their salary – not some pie in the sky delusion on a suicide-loan with the hopes that the real estate market is going to take-off again at any moment. You’re perpetuating an already bad situation.
 
Owning a home is NOT a given ‘right,’ it’s a ‘privilege’ – one that has to be earned and that includes responsibilities. That’s the message you need to be sending.
 
In case you haven’t looked recently at the historical run-up of the housing market, here’s a reminder. So the next time you want to bemoan how far the market is falling each month, perhaps you need to report the other side of the story – look how detached-from-reality the market got, and that we have a long way to go until we reach pricing again that is in line with people’s incomes. A LONG WAY!

Carolyn Beardsley
Bindman Bruzas Realty
St. Petersburg
 

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