It is important that the government bail out Fannie and Freddie. The free enterprise system, with its private property rights, profit and loss system of incentives, and market prices that allow individuals to rationally plan, works just fine for all other goods and services: food, clothing, health care, etc. The one exception is housing. Here, greed and rampant capitalism reign supreme, causing vast harm to the populace. The only hope for the average person is government.They are there to help us.
No, wait, that’s all wrong. That is nonsense on stilts. Yet, this sort of mischievous thinking is argued on behalf of government involvement in the housing market. But, there is no difference between housing and any other good or service. The free enterprise system is the last best hope that society has for keeping the wolf from the door. ALL government interference with the housing market has been an utter and total disaster. And this includes, in addition to Fannie and Freddie, rent control, housing subsidies, zoning legislation, urban renewal, housing codes.
Have we learned nothing from the fall of the USSR? Socialism doesn’t work. It doesn’t work in ANY country, and it doesn’t work in ANY sector of any nation’s economy. Housing is no exception.
