[quote=briansd1]Housing is now living on welfare and you all know that happens when people who depend in welfare. They can’t get off the subsidies. Eventually, the government won’t be able to handle it anymore and the whole thing will come crashing down, if that continues.[/quote]
Slightly off topic, but the opposite is actually true of most recipients of welfare. The majority who use the safety net are actually short timers who utilize the resources available during tough times (job loss, health problems) and return to work in less than 2 years and get off the system. (Note: I’m not looking at things like tax breaks, since if you consider that “welfare” most of the American middle class with kids is sucking at the government teat and living off the childless). Only about 20% actually stay on welfare for more than 5 years. Not a trivial amount, although overall it’s a drop in the bucket of total federal government spending.
The policies of the Clinton and GW Bush administrations helped create and prop up the housing bubble, along with a lot of stupid banks and foolish borrowers. Still, it is the role of the federal government to increase spending and cut taxes during economic downturns (i.e. run a deficit) and (here’s the tough political sell) CUT spending and RAISE taxes during economic boom times. Again, both Clinton and GW Bush screwed up by cutting taxes during their respective good economic years rather than paying down the deficit.
