The School of Hard Work Or Habituated Hand-Outs?

By Brady Willett
September 4, 2007

Originally published at Fallstreet.com

After signing the ‘American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003’ Bush added, “We want people to be fully aware of what it means to buy a home and what it takes”. The contradiction, if otherwise unclear, was that the President was signing a law that gave free money to those who could not afford to buy a home, and then he planned to educate them about the hard work, savings, and planning that is required to buy a home.

With Wall Street packaging and selling mortgage reset time bombs, rating agencies dolling out A’s first and asking questions never, and many homeowners essentially signing future default notices before their new home purchases were finalized, Bush’s efforts at expanding homeownership since 2003 have gone unnoticed as the subprime debacle widens. Unfortunately, so have the costs of funding Bush’s homeownership initiatives. What should not remain unnoticed is the irony of it all: near the height of the housing boom Bush wanted to do everything he could to boost already record high homeownership rates, but now, as the boom turns to bust, Bush is eying a plethora of emergency policy moves to simply try and keep ownership rates stable. You can not help but wonder whether or not many Americans would have been better off if Bush simply left the mortgage market alone.

Some are wondering exactly that. Notably, United States congressman Ron Paul, who was one of the few who stood up to tackle what was then largely hailed as a good new law:

Continue reading here.