Government Should Get Liens
President Obama noted last night that his housing rescue plan will not help those who were irresponsible when they took out a loan for a house they could not afford, and on CNN today people are continuing to beg for their bailout. While the government has already noted it will help these irresponsible people (since you can’t tell who will be in true need), and those who knew they were buying something they could not really afford, the government should place liens on those houses that receive assistance. Why should those who are in need of a bailout be any different than the banks who have to give the Government ownership via stock? If a homeowner recieves a bailout for X% of their loan value, the government should get a lien on the house for that same precent. That way when the market recovers, those who should not have been in those houses will not reap potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars while their responsible neighbors do not.