Every morning I go to the gym to walk on the treadmill. While there, I watch the morning news. Of course, like other level headed Americans I prefer Fox News. I know; I know; it is supposedly right-wing. When you compare it to other channels out there like CNN (Clinton News Network) and MSNBC (Obama Love Fest) anything besides NPR looks right-wing. Anyways, while watching Fox News, a large screen above my head was on CNN with closed caption. I watched for a few minutes to see what the other side was up to. I shouldn’t have done it; it could have been fatal.

The anchor was interviewing a very upset woman. Out of work for seven months, her mortgage was in danger of being foreclosed on. In her opinion Obama was not doing enough because she didn’t qualify for the mortgage rescue. Of course, the conversation could have been on why it was the government’s job to bail her out; the importance of an emergency fund in case of unforeseen setbacks; her own culpability in the situation. The left, true to form, never discusses the personal responsibility of the one crying for aid. Tears fall, banners come out and the government rides to the rescue.

During the conversation, she was asked what the president should do. She responded that if she were president, the government would pay everyone’s mortgage. Fortunately I had just started my work out and was still at a slow pace, or I might have been carried out.

I have been broke; I have been out of work; my family and I have lived on hamburger helper, and even less, for months at a time, but we have never thought, “if only the government would help.” Absolutely not! The financial problems we have faced, and they have been many, have all been because of stupid choices I have made—not my wife, not my banker, not my bosses. I don’t care how poor you are, how bad off you are, if you are not grievously handicapped then any financial problems you have are your own fault. If you got pregnant and couldn’t finish school then it is your fault. If you dropped out of school then it is your fault. If you decided that college was just not for you then it is your fault. Just like alcoholism, you will never get better until you admit you have a problem. If the government bails out people on their mortgages, they are subsidizing bad decision.

Many will cry, “But Ken, the banks are to blame because of their lending practices.” Blame the banks because you signed a bad note? Did the banker hold the pen in your hand moving it to form your signature? I have a real estate license, though I am not in the business. When you buy a house you will sign a ton of papers. You can choose to read them or ignore them—but you choose. All through the process it will be recommended that you see your lawyer or accountant before signing. There are so many disclosures required in the real estate and mortgage industries that it is impossible for you to make it from “Oh, I like that one,” to “Oh, we own this one,” without being told to see a lawyer. Perhaps you chose to forgo legal counsel because you couldn’t afford to pay him and still get the house. Listen carefully and I’ll try not to scream: “Then you couldn’t afford the house.” Protecting yourself in the buying process is part of the cost of buying a house. The more you know the less it costs, the less you know, the more you need the services of a lawyer. You signed every paper; you read and signed disclosure after disclosure. You knew your financial picture better than anyone and still signed a stack of papers just for the privilege of having a mortgage. If you were that broke, your situation that precarious, at several points in the process you found yourself either begging or praying for the mortgage to be approved. How did it now become the bank’s fault and the government’s responsibility?

Yes, some misconduct happened in the lending industry but there are laws and courts to work those through. People who bought a house the creative way, were gambling. They gambled that their jobs would be steady, that the economy would stay strong and that the housing market would keep churning forward. They gambled and, like all gamblers, eventually lost. Now we are asking those who did it right, who made the right choices and the appropriate sacrifices to purchase their home, to subsidize the gambling of the down and outers.

This nation owes you nothing: mortgage, house or paycheck. You have been blessed beyond most of the world by living in the greatest nation on earth. It is now up to you; do something with it and fix your own situation.