Obviously, it's been eons since I've posted on this blog. But the column by Walter Williams in the morning paper was too good to pass up offering some learned commentary. Williams is an economics professor at George Mason University which is not exactly known for liberal thinking, so to speak. Professor Williams advocates that folks who own their homes and have assets should live off their home equity and assets and not be leeches on the public trough, so to speak once more. Wait, there's more, as the infomercial shills chant. Well-to-do folks who were frugal all their lives should not be eligible for social security and other spoon-fed handouts, but should be required to pay their own bills from their carefully accumulated assets.
A few problems arise with this thinking. The first problem is that economic analysis teaches that we should evaluate the consequences and circumstances of alternative courses of actual or proposed action. So consider the following: You have spent your money as you earned it all of your life, plus run your plastic debt through the ceiling, lived in a megahome with an ARM mortgage, enjoyed a boat and a Lexus. And you went bust. Not once, but two or three times. You left others holding the bag when you couldn't pay your debts. But, here's the beauty of the thing: You retire with nothing, and you are eligible for social security, medicare, medicaid, and whatever other goodies the government dreams up to pass along to folks like you. At least that's the "Williams Rule." These folks can enjoy having the government take care of them, but not those frugal savers who prepared for retirement. Great economic thinking, Walter.
It's a legit proposal to propose. Plain and simple.
Posted by: fountain hills limo | June 09, 2011 at 03:09 AM