The Case For Foreclosures

I was pleasantly surprised to see an article titled The Case For Foreclosures on Slate.com the other day. Finally, someone was taking a critical look at the recent desire by Congress to "do something" about the wave of foreclosures sweeping the nation.

The article doesn't touch on one of my pet peeves, namely that capitalism, by definition, requires some businesses to fail, or in this case, some loans to default and go into foreclosure. Capitalism is sort of a Darwinian financial system where only the strong survive. Whenever Congress or someone else steps in to prop up an industry, they are subverting free-market capitalism.

The article does, however, rightly point out that someone's loss is someone else's gain. There will be many families who are now able to afford a house they otherwise couldn't, all because another families had to get kicked out. Saying this does not mean I have a lack of compassion. It's merely the facts of Financial Darwinism.