If I can't afford to buy something, should I buy it anyway?

Can we, the people, really afford to buy the failing businesses of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac?

Oh, I see, they are asking us to forgive their irresponsible behavior and chip in to save the portfolios of their shareholders and other interested parties. I can perhaps do that if given the proper evidence that they understand what caused the problem and are resolving it accordingly. Oh, they are not asking for my consent, or offering evidence. They are using the power of the state to assume I am willing to forgive.

Well then. How do I know the forces that led to their failure are understood? How can I verify that our newly acquired businesses will function properly? Will they be exposed to free-market competition? What is my economic incentive for chipping in?

Something seems off here. Is this the natural, inevitable result of our constitutional republic? Well, let's look at the evidence we do have...

Does a free society favor security holders, banks, and borrowers over others? That doesn't seem to jive with "all men are created equal." What do others have to say about this?

The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law. -Aristotle

In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs. -Walter Lippman

Administering justice among individuals who conduct their own affairs. Okay, that seems fair. So we established a government to enforce justice. The innocent are to be be protected from the scourge of the guilty who seek to distribute accountability to others.

Is a violation of this principle ever acceptable?

It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered. -Aristotle

Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere. -Martin Luther King Jr.

Mighty strong words there, Martin. Okay, well let's run with that. Hm. An institution funded with our tax dollars (the US Government) purchased two of the worlds largest businesses that are both going bankrupt. I don't understand how that is just.

When I fail nobody gives me money. Why do I need to give money to giant mortgage companies? Oh, it's for the public good. I see. Well, I certainly want to do what's in the public good...

But isn't justice compatible with the public good too? Necessary?

Those CEOs made tens of millions of dollars last year alone. I certainly hope they also care about the public good. By the way, aren't they the ones (with the shareholders) taking the risk in this venture? I didn't know I had anything to lose in this particular venture. I don't remember having the extra cash to risk on this sort of thing...

Oh, wait. On my behalf, the government promised the shareholders that I would pitch in to bail them out if they failed. I see. No wonder they have so many shareholders, all of us have been made accountable for other people's loans and real estate investments. Wait. I never had anything to gain from all this, yet I am accountable somehow? What has been going on here?

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government. -Thomas Jefferson

We, my friends, cannot currently be trusted. Most in our country do not understand what is happening. The nationalization of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac is an insidious breach of economic justice shifting the burden to the innocent through taxes and the diluting and devaluing of our currency.

The line of credit is a promise on behalf of the government to engage in a huge unconstitutional and immoral income transfer from working Americans to holders of GSE [Government Sponsored Enterprise] debt. -Ron Paul

There is no amount of admonition too severe for this type of business/government relationship. Ever since the promises were made...that government would bail out Freddie and Fanny if necessary...the end result was inevitable. These institutions were given an unfair advantage over any competitors attracting more shareholders. Bankers knew it, investors knew it, (some) borrowers knew it, and government officials knew it. This is a textbook monopoly, and like all monopolies, it could not have existed without government favor.

The plan was (and is) a scheme to exploit the masses for the benefit of the few who understand what this racket is all about. Well, it appears to have worked. But we will all suffer on account of it, even the wealthy...

They will come to learn in the end, at their own expense, that it is better to endure competition for rich customers than to be invested with monopoly over impoverished customers. -Frederic Bastiat

Restore freedom and competition to the mortgage industry. Rather than propping up bad business we must expose them to fair competition or we will all pay dearly. A promise that is based on fallacy and not grounded in reality will always be broken eventually. Such was the promise made to Fanny and Freddie. Delaying the inevitable will only corrode the economy to the point that otherwise responsible mortgagees will be forced to foreclose.

Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens. -Plato