Bailouts Don't Work

Columnist Myriam Marquez is correct -- just not in the way she intended -- about greed being the X-factor that is poisoning our economy (Stop blaming the working poor for lenders' greed, Feb. 27).

The true danger of the current economic crisis lies not in some inherent deficiency in the capitalist system, but in the growing greed for government subsidies. What began with a bailout of the banking system has relentlessly snowballed into a free-for-all grab for government bailouts by several industries in an effort to recover from their own poor decisions.

That real-estate property developers now are requesting a bailout is an insult to taxpayers. Their unrestrained and undisciplined building during the boom was one of the factors creating the current crisis.

A line needs to be drawn here and now. Bailouts hinder the natural market processes of decay and rebirth. They prolong stagnation. Irresponsible builders should not be rewarded with the dollars of more-prudent taxpayers.

MATTHEW GLANS, legislative specialist, The Heartland Institute, Chicago