Bailouts or handouts?

Re “Trying to stop the bleeding,” Feb. 19

Count me as a very disgusted Democrat, as I watch the handouts continue unabated.

One day it’s the car company CEOs; now it’s the supposedly “responsible” homeowners who either contributed to the housing bubble by buying their houses during a hysterical period or took cash out of their homes to finance otherwise unaffordable lifestyles

By the time this insanity stops, we’ll likely be another $2 trillion in debt. Do politicians in Washington forget that there are people who pay taxes and who don’t own a home? They’ll be reminded in 2010, when there is another election.

Neal Rothman

Los Angeles

--

If a person’s house is burning because he was smoking in bed, and if left unattended the fire will burn your house down as well, should we let the house burn just because the owner was negligent? No. First put out the fire, then deal with the “moral hazard” issue.

Likewise, it is in the interests of homeowners everywhere to stop the foreclosure cycle. Helping people stay in their homes helps all of us who own homes. Not because we want to reward bad behavior but because it is in our own interest to stop the drop in the value of our own residences.

Michael Olson

Pasadena