29 January 2009
Editor, The New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036

To the Editor:

Your headline reports that "Obama Calls Wall Street Bonuses 'Shameful'" (January 29). True enough. But equally shameful is Mr. Obama's detachment from reality.

Why would he suppose that greedy bankers, when given access to money forcibly extracted for them from taxpayers through a program that Mr. Obama himself champions, would cease to be greedy bankers? And, more fundamentally, is it not also shameful for government to compel citizens as taxpayers to patronize banks and auto producers that these same citizens as private consumers choose not to patronize?

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030