No American has a civil right to credit

As the decline of communism in the world proved the failure of socialism, so should we forever end the more recent and veiled liberal attempt to redistribute wealth through subprime mortgages that caused this recession. People who cannot show the ability to pay back what they borrow in the traditional measures of credit worthiness should not be extended credit and mortgages. Credit should be like it was decades ago - hard to get.

Jesse Jackson, Barney Frank, Carl Levin, Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, to name a few, were all champions of the misguided social experiment called the Fair Housing Act. This policy wrecked the global economy by eroding the tough standards we once had to get credit. Shame on them, but shame on us now if we don't realize it was this attempted form of socialism in the guise of a false civil rights issue that put us in this recession - reckless policies we must reverse.

Elect leaders who will restore tough credit standards, will fight and not cower when the liberals spew their usual insults when we stop entitling mortgages to those who should not own a house. We need to reject the bankrupt practice of race politics in banking and let the "disadvantaged" with poor credit simply rent. Tell the leadership at the banks to whom we entrust our savings to stand up and fight lawsuits by groups like ACORN from trying to rip off America's wealth for bad handout loans and other forms of extortion.

An expensive litigation victory is better than caving in to pressure to make even one small bad loan. Credit is not a civil right, not an entitlement; it is a privilege you have to earn.

Harold Knudsen

Arlington Heights