Whodda Thought: A Good Idea From Romney

Wow, something from Mitt Romney that I could actually support.

Campaigning last week in Nevada, the epicenter of the housing bust, Mr. Romney was asked by the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial board what he would do about housing and foreclosures. His reply:

“One is, don’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom. Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the house up. Let it turn around and come back up. The Obama Administration has slow-walked the foreclosure process that have long existed, and as a result we still have foreclosure overhang.

Number two, the credit [that] was given to first time homebuyers was insufficient and inadequate to turn around the housing market. I think it was an ineffective idea. It was a little bit like the cash-for-clunkers program, throwing government money at something which was not market-oriented, did not staunch the decline in home values anymore than it encouraged the auto industry to take off.” (Source: Wall Street Journal via TigerHawk Blog)

You have got to know that there are folks in the Obama Administration AND the leftist media (aka: Main Stream Media) that are going to be completely up in arms about what Romney said. “How dare Romney endorse throwing people out into the street without a roof over their heads. Doesn’t he know winter is around the corner?”

I know the democrats and progressive can trot out heart-rending stories about individual homeowners forced out of their homes because of the big, bad banks. And to tell you the truth, the stories can be heartbreaking.

But let’s look at this from another angle. For most of the progressive movement, it has always been about the collective, not individual freedom and responsibility. But on the matter of housing and foreclosures, for progressive and liberals it is all about the individual (certainly not about freedom and responsibility) homeowner. They want the government to save the individual homeowner so they can stay in their house. But with this stance, they have lost sight of what is good for everyone (the collective). If we continue in the direction we have headed over the past three years, home values will take years to even begin to climb, much less recover. Isn’t a faster recovery in the housing market good for everyone (the collective)? You’d think that liberals and progressive would support this.

All that is happening is the can is being kicked down the road. Romney is suggesting that we stop kicking the can down the road, man-up, take our lumps, let the market recover on its own. No amount of government intervention is going to save the housing market, it has to save itself and the sooner we allow this to happen , the better off we are going to be in the middle- and long-term. The role of government is not to control or run the economy, but to make it easier for the economy to function.

BTW: Still not a fan of Romney.