Poll Worry For Pols

Consumers are against the plan because it again shifts responsibility away from people who made bad choices.

My family resisted the temptation to buy a house that we could not afford -- yet we are being asked to pony up $10,000 (that's the estimated cost per family) to bail out others who over extended themselves.

How is that fair? My family of four lives in a cramped one bedroom apartment, yet those of us that are responsible are being punished 3 ways - 1) we have to bail out others who lived well 2) we don't live in a grand house and 3) our fiscal responsibility got us no where.

That's why many people are against the plan. To be honest -- why do we continue to reward fiscally irresponsible folks. I guess that's how government works too ...

Sent by Judy Shapiro | 10:05 AM | 9-24-2008

Thanks for getting some polling results on this issue out, NPR. I've been eagerly scanning for them, this week.

I am wholeheartedly against this bailout, and happily surprised to find my opposition so broadly shared.

I agree with Judy: I work for a living, live within my means, and save what I can. Why should people who haven't done so get a handout, at my expense, with no strings? These are private, for-profit companies that "Heckuva Job Henry" Paulson wants to subsidize. If this money keeps them operating, as is claimed that it will, then they're going to return to profitability. At which point, THEY can begin paying back the cost their own bailout, rather than leaving the debt on taxpayers' shoulders.

Sent by MJ Kuhns | 2:14 PM | 9-24-2008