Am I Missing Something?

What happened to taking responsiblity for your actions? What happened to not counting chickens before they hatch?

Let me say first that I'm in no way trying to be a witch about this issue I'm about to address. I'm truly puzzled and must be missing some knowledge somewhere to not understand why this problem is anyone's fault but the person or person's who made the choices they made.

I see yet another headline about those who are about to have their home's foreclosed on getting help or some form of bailout or grace period from the government. What confuses me is how other than pure economics this is the governments problem. I understand that it destroys the economy. What I don't understand is how or why these people got into this predicament in the first place.

I know that I don't own a home because I can not afford a home. I rent because no matter what kind of creative financing some mortgage lender comes up with that I could not and would not be able to afford that ballon payment down the road if I can't afford it now. Would I love to own a home, yes. Could I qualify for one of these scam mortgages, yes. Would I as a responsible person ever apply for one of these things, no!

I'm not talking about the people out there that get divorced, lose a job, have a medical condition or in some other way have a legimate reason for falling behind on payments that is beyond control. I'm talking about those people that sat down at a table, were told their payments would increase by a large amount at a later time, knew they wouldnt be able to afford that larger payment but banked on being able to refiance later. What where they thinking! Why should we or the government bail these people out? This is a situation completely of their own making and we the country as a whole have to pay the price for that.

If these people are the victims of shady lending then the government should go after those lenders for fraud. If they can prove criminal practices on the lenders parts then the homeowners should be given standard loans at standards rates and those companies should be made to fund the difference. However, if the company didnt do anything fraudulent only immoral then the homeowners should be made to "bite the bullet" and deal with their home loans that they incurred by being irresponsible.

If I dont fully understand this situation please feel free to enlighten me. Its a puzzle to me how anything other than being responsible for your choices makes sense. Get two or three jobs, rent the house out, or loose the house, you made this decision now deal with the consequence.