Shoulda' bought a house in town

There' s no big farmer bail-out, although some have characterized the recent new Farm Bill that way. It is over-generous in subsidies for grain and other crops, but generally, farmers hailed out, snowed out or tornadoed out--it's tough to get any help at all. That's the vagaries of agriculture

You get in because you like the freedom and lifestyle--not for the money, because there isn't much.

It's always been hard to borrow money for operations or land or equipment purchases for agriculture. You can usually get about a 50% loan to value, with a short amortization that guarantees hefty payments.

Farmers marvelled at their brethren in town, where home mortgages got easier and easier. You could borrow up to 125% of value, with no down payment, on adjustible rate mortgages that began with low payments. If a deal like there were available to farmers, young people could afford to go into the business.

Nonetheless, that kind of lending virtually guarantees that some unqualified people borrow money, and that when a crash comes, as it has the last two year--some borrowers and some lenders get wiped out.

But wait--Uncle Sam (ie, the taxpayers) have thrown 400,000 of you a lifeline. Congress has just passed, and President Bush has said he will sign, a mortgage bail-out bill.

Now, no matter how deep you got in over your head, no matter how crooked a lender may be, no matter how irresponsibly you handled your loan payments or refinanced to take on more debt for furniture and toys like boats--relief is on the way.

What a kick in the teeth to the 94% of home mortgage holders who are not in default--many of whom took on a second or third job, put the wife to work or gave up recreation and entertainment, just to keep the mortgage current. We don't hear about them, and nothing's coming their way.

That's right farmers, you shoulda' bought a house in town!