I am stunned by some of the things I am reading today in The New York Times. First there was the falsehoods about rising inflation. Now this regarding rising house foreclosures:

Bank of America, which is in the process of acquiring Countrywide Financial and has potentially huge exposure, has circulated a proposal to create a new federal agency that would buy vast quantities of delinquent mortgages at a deep discount and replace them with fixed-rate federally guaranteed loans.

Hmmm....let's consider this proposal. Bank of America has decided to make a tremendously risky move by acquiring Countrywide Financial. And instead of shouldering the risk themselves, they are asking that the American taxpayers (you and I) take on the risk instead.

This would be an utterly ridiculous proposal if it weren't for the unfortunate fact that there is quite a history in this country of individuals like you and me bailing out corporations and individuals who have made huge mistakes. I am all for having a safety net for the poor and needy in our society. But by bailing out companies like Bank of America, we are sending the message that corporations can take all the risk they want to because we will always come to the rescue. And we wonder how situations like Enron happened?