Paying dearly for living beyond our means

In addition to its financial quagmire and neglected transportation systems, Illinois has earned itself yet another dubious distinction. It moved into the Top 10 in the number of foreclosures in 2007.

Illinois posted 90,782 foreclosure filings, which include default or auction notices and bank repossessions. It had only 64,310 such filings in 2006. The new numbers represent a 25 percent increase.

Nationally, foreclosure filings increased by 75 percent in 2007 and many economists say those numbers could increase in 2008 as even more adjustable mortgages reach reset points.

Still, it shouldn't be all that surprising that so many people were buying houses they couldn't afford, banking on outrageous home prices becoming even more outrageous and encouraged by predatory mortgage lenders.

In any other instance, such behavior would be called irresponsibility, gambling or playing the market, all of which carry huge risks. But these are risks no one seemed willing to acknowledge in this housing meltdown. Now everyone wants to be saved from their own poor decisions. They come by that attitude naturally.

All one need to do is look at the state or federal governments to see that we are drunk on the idea of living beyond our means. The housing crash exacerbated an economic slowdown that only politicians were surprised to discover. Can't have that in an election year, so here comes a bipartisan political panacea disguised as an economic stimulus package.

Too bad most economists say it is likely to be too little, too late and, at best, a short-term Band-Aid, certainly not a sound, long-term fiscal policy that might right the underlying economy. As is the case with most government solutions these days, no one has any idea how we'll pay for this $150 billion in new debt. There is not one hint anywhere of cuts elsewhere to offset the rebate checks.

But then, one can hardly go five minutes listening to presidential candidates without hearing some new proposal to save us from something, usually ourselves. But no one ever mentions we will be the ones funding that salvation, with rules provided by them later.

On the state level, matters may be even worse. Illinois borrows money to pay old debts if it bothers to pay its bills at all, spends money it doesn't have and is led by a governor who militantly creates new programs, disregarding their cost and the fact that the state can't pay for programs already in place. Who else but Rod Blagojevich would propose new freebies as part of a mass transit bailout?

Under such circumstances in the private sector, people get axed, budgets get cut and services get reduced -- and nobody gets any freebies.

So maybe you can forgive Illinoisans their poor mortgage judgments. They were, after all, only following their leaders.