Reminder: Whenever the government picks winners, there are always losers
Those who want the government to "fix" their mortgage problems should remember that one person's problem is another person's opportunity. Consider the news that home prices in Las Vegas have fallen by 40 percent.
Whether this news is good or not depends on your point of view, she (Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors President Sue Naumann) added.Every time the government uses the force of law to declare someone a winner, it takes something â'€ money, time, opportunity â'€ from someone else.
"Sellers obviously don't want to see prices keep falling," Naumann said. "But buyers are taking advantage of historic bargains, with mortgage interest rates at an all-time low, and home prices now more affordable than they've been in a generation."
And individuals, being self-interested, realize that if the government is rewarding "bad" behavior, they should start to engage in that behavior as well. And then everyone is much worse off. Especially when the government comes in and tries to "fix" the "problem" it created.
Just another reason why government shouldn't pick the winners and losers in an economy.
