Who's responsible

November 30, 2008 11:47 pm

— "Bailout." I must have heard that word 500 times in the last month. Everybody is talking about the government "bailout."
Do I wish it wasn't needed? Of course. I'm sure all taxpayers wish that. What would have happened without it? Nobody knows. All I know is the government didn't give anybody any free money as the word "bailout" suggests. The government did loan numerous financial institutions on Wall Street billions. Terms of the loan included 5 percent interest on the principal for the first three years and then if the money is not paid back, terms go to 9 percent for the remainder of the loan. Anyone who has had money in the stock market this year I'm sure would be very happy to have the chance to get the same terms on their money that Mr. Paulson and his team negotiated for the taxpayers.
The "bailout" was not to be used to "remortgage home loans at a lower rate" as was stated in the "My Turn" article in Monday's paper. The money was to be used to buy bad debt that was on the major financial banks balance sheets so that they would start lending money again. The bad debt occurred due to many reasons, none more important than ordinary citizens (taxpayers) buying more houses than they could afford. Were they "duped" into buying them? Some were, but bottom line is you are responsible for your actions and it's like drugs -- just say "no."
Most of these homeowners were very happy to buy a house they knew they couldn't afford in 3 years when their subprime mortgage adjusted upward because their house would appreciate in that time and they could sell it for a profit before it adjusted. Most people will call it bad luck -- greed and stupidity
Michael Miller,
Mifflinburg