Today's headlines announce that the foreclosure rate on homes in the USA has subsided. Actually, the rate is down 2%, but that appears to be because most people who could be foreclosed are already stuck in this process. The statistics also show that 7.4 million homeowners are behind at least one payment in their mortgages. The Obama plan to help homeowners, however, has already helped 220,000 of those 7.4 million people. The story fails to mention that about half of those who received govvernment help are again behind in their new, lower payments.
A big issue to me is who decided who are the 220,000 homeowners who got help. After all, these folk represent about 3% of the group that are behind in their motgage payments. Surely some of the selection is done by the group itself -- you cannot get help unless you apply for it. Still, there is someone or some group at the government that is deciding who to help and who not to help.
Why should we live in a country where the government names winners and losers? the driving force behind the greatness of America (or at least one of the driving forces) has always been the opportunity afforded by this country to its citizens to achieve success, no matter who you are. Success could be achieved by people regardless of their education (Bill Gates is a college drop out), family background, religion, sex, race and ethnicity. Some of these factors have been roadblocks in the past, but the history of America has been to reduce these barriers so that all get the chance for success achieved on merit alone.
Now we are moving away from this with programs like Obama's mortgage assistance plan. Merit has nothing to do with who wins and who loses under this plan. The government makes that decision, and with that comes a big increase in government power over the lives of all people.
We need to move away from this and back towards the path of American equal opportunity.
No comments:
Post a Comment