We shouldn’t bail out people who lost the plot

THE recent increase in debate about debt forgiveness has sparked the writing of this letter.

Does prudence count for anything during the last 14 years? Should we teach our youth to “spend whatever you like” as the country will bail you out. I think not. Yes, there are genuine cases of hard luck. But, there are many more cases of people losing the run of themselves, spending like heroin addicts and now looking for the rest of us to bail them out.

The debt forgiveness issue to me, a person who vigorously opposes it, seems simple.

Either extend the mortgage period to say 100 years (or whatever makes it affordable) or swap the debt for equity with an option for buy back later. In this way, the lender (that is Joe Public) is protected and the borrower keeps the family home.

Another item to define is, is the family home allowed to be a 12000 sq ft mansion (as those in NAMA will claim)? I’d say divide by 12 and relocate them to one of their ghost estates.

If we learn anything from this it is that with speculation comes risk, with risk comes reward or punishment.

It’s funny that the financial regulator advertisements, so often heard during the boom are gone, as are the “Speedy Gonzales” footnotes advising that shares can rise as well as fall.

Is it no wonder nobody heeded them.

Brian McKnight

Carrigaline

Co Cork