Everyone wants a bailout, it seems. As private promise paper turns out to be worthless, the bagholders want the taxpayer to make good on the private promises. Bill Gross, for example, calls for the taxpayer to subsidize mortgage payments. Others call for the taxpayer to buy worthless mortgages at high prices to bail out the lenders. Governments want to raise taxes as economic activity declines, to fund the promises they have made. And on and on.

The only problem is that homeowners and taxpayers are pretty much the same people, so we’re talking about moving money from one pocket to another. Renters are more likely to be lower income and pay much less tax. How is this going to work?