Bail out homeowners? Homeowners should pay price for their own errors

A new survey by FreedomWorks, based in Washington, D.C., found that the majority of Americans oppose a mortgage bailout for subprime borrowers.

I concur.

I don’t feel the government should bail out homeowners who made bad decisions regarding the interest rates on their mortgage or whether the homes they were buying were too expensive for them in the first place. The bottom line is that all that they are really losing is a house they can’t afford. What is wrong with that? It sounds — well — reasonable.

Being uninformed is not a reason to avoid debt. Failing to understand the definition of an adjustable rate is not an excuse.

Essentially, a mortgage bailout would reward risky, greedy, ignorant and/or irresponsible behavior. Sure, the lenders may have sold these buyers too rosy a financial picture in order to make the sale. However, as is always the case — buyer beware. Not that some of the more shady brokers shouldn’t be dealt with, but we all need to take some personal responsibility. If you can’t afford your home, get rid of it, at a loss if you must.

Where the government could help is lowering rates so that financial institutions could offer some alternatives. This would be helpful to the macro-economy and may even offer some protection to the overall investment community. But any more involvement than that isn’t likely to be efficient anyway.

You have to understand where the government would essentially get bailout money: taxpayers! Solutions need to be created between the lender and borrower. At the very worst, people will be living in houses and apartments that better suit their financial means. Hopefully, this debacle will prove to be a good lesson for everyone — the borrowers and the lenders.

Bourgeois lives in Hilton.