The Bailout Follies: Taxpayers Will Be Forced to Buy the Bad Debt of LOCAL GOVERNMENTS [Andy McCarthy]

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZGI0NTU1MTY0ZDBkNTYxMjJmYmY4N2RjMmNhY2ExY2U=

Nancy Pelosi yesterday released a summary of the bailout.  Under the heading of "Protection for Taxpayers ..." Madame Speaker includes this whopper (my italics): The scheme "[a]llows the government to purchase troubled assets from pension plans, local governments, and small banks that serve low- and middle-income families."

So in addition to rewarding irresponsible lenders and borrowers, we taxpayers are now to be "protected" by buying the toxic debt of states, cities and municipalities.  It's one thing to throw a life-line to the credit industry; local governments, by contrast, have the ability to cut spending drastically or raise taxes if their inhabitants want government services.  Elected politicians are then accountable for runaway spending and mismanagement.  If Detroit or Chicago is sinking because of big-government policies, that's what the citizens of those cities asked for by voting for Democrats year in and year out.  Why should the rest of us be on the hook for that?