Resentment Over the Bailout, Except From… The Libertarian!?

The Washington Post adds some anecdotal evidence on the low support for the bailout:

“I’m worried that the taxpayers are going to wind up paying for all this,” said Arlena Elbaraka, 38, who lives in the manicured neighborhood of Blooms Crossing.

“Who ends up losing from all this? Us, right?” asked Rogelio Benitez, 36, a home-improvement contractor who lives with his wife and six kids in a working-class neighborhood on the western edge of town.

“I’m not overextended,” Merkle said. “I didn’t buy a large home that I can’t afford. I’m not behind on any of my payments. I’m not sure I want the government to take my tax dollars and buy someone else’s house for them.”

Then there is an unpleasant (for this reader at least) surprise near the end of the article. A lone dissenter from the widespread dissatisfaction with the latest scam (emphasis mine):

Hours of interviews in Manassas Park turned up exactly one resident in favor of the bailout, a fellow in a Harvard T-shirt in a big house near the golf course. Richard Bejtlich, 36, who works in computer security for General Electric — its stock jumped dramatically Friday when the government banned short-selling of financial securities — says he’s a libertarian and normally wouldn’t support government intervention. But there’s no other way at this point, he says, because we’re in too deep of a hole and have been too profligate.

Thank you Beltway libertarians… You have done your job well. Collect your 30 pieces of silver at the temple.

Share

1:13 pm on September 22, 2008