by Thomas Sowell
No one will really understand politics until they understand that
politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to
solve their own problems-- of which getting elected and re-elected are
number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind.
Many of the things the government does that may seem stupid
are not stupid at all, from the standpoint of the elected officials or
bureaucrats who do these things.
The current economic downturn that has cost millions of people their
jobs began with successive administrations of both parties pushing
banks and other lenders to make mortgage loans to people whose incomes,
credit history and inability or unwillingness to make a substantial
down payment on a house made them bad risks.
Was that stupid? Not at all. The money that was being put at
risk was not the politicians' money, and in most cases was not even the
government's money. Moreover, the jobs that are being lost by the
millions are not the politicians' jobs-- and jobs in the government's
bureaucracies are increasing.
No one pushed these reckless mortgage lending policies more
than Congressman Barney Frank, who brushed aside warnings about risk,
and said in 2003 that he wanted to "roll the dice" even more in the
housing markets. But it would very rash to bet against Congressman
Frank's getting re-elected in 2010.
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/24/solving_whose_problem