A Loser’s View Of The Stimulus Bill
The other day I just happened to watch the comedy movie idiocracy on TV. I was laughing at the beginning part where a typical educated, financially stable, couple kept putting off their reproduction, while other poor, uneducated couples kept reproducing at an alarming rate. As a result, the educated people failed to have kids, while the uneducated people ended up control the country (or the world, for that matter) with their expanding population.
For some reason, that movie made me think of the government’s economic stimulus bill that President Obama just signed into law. Hesitators like me keep putting off buying a home because they know it’s hard to keep up with mortgage payments. I’m not sure if we’re called responsible people or just simply cowards, but one thing I’m sure is that we end up renting forever. On the other hand, those buyers that don’t know about the risk of foreclosure, or don’t even care about it, will end up owning a home under this housing rescue effort.
Of course it’s not fair, such as life, it’s hardly fair! Some people may say “Why don’t you go ahead and buy one now? There’ll be like 8 grands in credit…” Well, sure, but that’s not what I was looking for. I want the prices to go down further, a lot further, because they’ve been too far inflated during the past few years of housing boom. It doesn’t make sense that a 2-working-people family can’t afford a 2-bedroom house. I’m sure all average-pay workers out there agree with me on this. But people kept paying too much for a new home because either they didn’t know the danger of unscrupulous lending practice, or were too optimistic about their financial future, thinking that they can just stop eating to put all earnings on mortgage.
So I kind of hope that with more supply and less demand, home prices will continue to fall to a level that people like me can afford. That’s why the government effort to use tax-payers’ money to rescue those irresponsible buyers doesn’t sound fair to me. I know raising home prices may help other parts of the economy, but beside other problems, it’s just not fair. It’s kind of like you standing in a check-out line at a groceries store. The line is too long, and suddenly the store manager comes out and moves some people behind you to the front, just because they’re blocking the aisle passage! The big question is, why doesn’t he move you instead those behind you? Well, similarly, I believe those buyers who can’t afford to pay mortgage now should have their home foreclosed and go renting. Eventually home prices will be low enough for hard-working people to buy first, and then when those who lost their homes get back on their feet (i.e. working harder, spending less and saving more money), they can start buying again. That would be a fair solution to me.