Dean Baker (but you knew that, didn’t you?):
Unfortunately, I am not kidding. In an incredibly poorly informed piece on the foreclosure crisis (they apparently still haven’t heard of the housing bubble), NPR concluded with a quote telling listeners that, “We’re really just trying to figure out who bears the loss. Do we want the government to bear it all, or do we want some of it to be pushed onto investors?”
Of course, that’s the question. Investors can’t be expected to know what they are doing, the little boys and girls need the government to help them out. After all, that is why we have the government. No one would want to leave wealthy investors’ fate to the market. The only question is whether we bail them out completely, or maybe force them to suffer some loss due to their bad investments.
It’s great that NPR framed the range of views that it will present on this issue so clearly. Of course there are people who think that the government should focus on helping homeowners rather than wealthy investors who are too dumb to know how to invest their money. …