Re:  "Bad Move:  House Defeat of Bailout Legislation Will Deepen Impact of Financial Crisis"

So Speaker Pelosi (and, implicitly, the editorial board of the Chronicle) blames Republicans and a lack of government intervention on the current financial crisis and the failure of the House of Representatives to pass the bailout plan.  Unfortunately, this claim ignores some important facts.  First of all, 95 Democrats voted against the plan — over 40% of Speaker Pelosi's caucus.  Secondly, the crisis on Wall Street is not the result of too little government interference in the marketplace, but rather too much.  The housing bubble is the result of government tax and other incentives that artificially inflated the demand for housing, while the collapse of the mortgage market is largely attributable to the government encouragement of subprime lending.

Sincerely,
Dave Smith