Mortgages: Who's screwed?

The Wall Street Journal has a map showing where the worst "upside down" mortgage problems are: California and Florida, which were the biggest boom markets during the housing bubble.

Ordinary Americans in other areas, as well as renters and those who didn't leverage their equity during the bubble, are being asked to bail out the 1-in-6 who are "upside down."

What part of "HELL, NO!" don't they understand?

UPDATE: Perhaps I should clarify the grounds of my opposition to any scheme to bail out homeowners who leveraged up during the housing bubble.

Either you believe in the market economy or you don't. You can't be pro-market when times are good and then advocate statism when times are bad. Nor can you be pro-market when it benefits you personally, then turn against the market as soon as you face a personal loss.

During the bubble, we heard a lot of whining from "affordable housing" advocates: Oh, the working class is being priced out of the market! And I said, "Tough noogies."

Now that the bubble has popped, we're hearing a different kind of whining: Oh, the middle class has lost their equity and might lose their homes! Once more I say: "Tough noogies."

The market is right. Supply is supply and demand is demand, and if you're on the wrong side of that equation, it's not my fault. Hey, you want to try being a journalist when the newspaper business is in a death spiral? My lousy career choices are not your fault, and your lousy real estate investments are not my fault.

"Creative destruction" means that the collapse of the newspaper industry frees up my talents for some endeavor for which there is an actual market demand. And the wipeout of 1/6th of U.S. homeowners frees up those resources for people who didn't wager their fortunes on the housing bubble. "Affordable housing" is what I call it when a foreclosed McMansion is sold for back taxes at the sheriff's auction.

The market is right. Tough noogies. God bless America!