Bailouts - For Everyone!

I have yet to come up with any better way of subsidizing idiocy and recklessness than so-called "bailouts". Recently the most powerful Red in the world, President Obama, has announced plans to start bailing out individual homeowners who are behind in their mortgage repayments as long as they meet certain conditions. Namely, their mortgage needs to amount to more than the value of their house and they have to be unemployed. I have never heard of a more ludicrous idea! Subsidizing three hugely negative behaviours (staying unemployed and collecting welfare, lowering property values, and borrowing against your house without being able to afford it) in one move! The administration also makes a couple incredibly foolish assumptions while proposing this bailout. One is that "people would rather work than not work". I think that kind of statement needs no comment. It is the exact opposite of the universally accepted law of the disutility of labor. People prefer leisure to work! This is why most people enjoy their weekends and public holidays. This is reminiscent of the theories of Marx or Engels who were sure that the "new socialist man" would enjoy work and therefore productivity under a socialist system wouldn't fall, but increase... Of course these $50,000 give-aways Obama is proposing will not only distort the market and reward foolishness, but also hurt frugal citizens who don't have credit issues. Many people did not get sucked into the easy loan trap and saved their money. They spent within their means and maintained their properties while scrupulously paying off their mortgages. These people will now be taxed and their savings will be diminished through inflation. Their portion of the national debt will rise, something their children will have to face as much as the children of the idiots ("idiots" is probably the mildest term for people who took out zero-down adjustable rate mortgages and immediately started taking out extra loans against their new property...).
The European Union, meanwhile, is doing no better. Let us take the example of the recent Greece bailout. Right after the financial crisis hit in 2008 Ireland suffered a huge economic recession. Immediately tough steps were taken. Paychecks to all government staff were cut. Some staff were laid off. Entitlements (such as unemployment benefits) were severely reduced or even eliminated. During this time the Greek government did none of these things. They continued spending like drunken sailors and getting further into debt with no regard for the future. And now, after their final collapse, Ireland is one of the nations paying off the Greeks! And to no small sum - at least 800 billion euro in the first instance!
As my guru, the great Herbert Spencer, said: "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools."
Peter Schiff had it right all along and he gets it right again here. The Dollar, Obama's Plans, the Lunacy of Politics...