Is Quantity of Government Involvement Correlated With Quality of Results?
From the latest New York Times/CBS Poll asking respondents about their perception of the housing market:
In general, do you think the government should be doing more to help the housing market improve, should it be doing less, or is the government doing the right amount?
More 45%
Less 16%
About Right 30%
Laden in this question is the assumption that the government is capable of making a meaningful and positive improvement to the housing market. It also suggests that the quantity of involvement is somehow correlated with the quality of results. Congress could do little and simply write one really poor piece of legislation. It is not obvious that the amount of government involvement causes an improved outcome.
It also suggests, if only the politicians in Washington could get their act together, they could write up a new piece of legislation and solve the nation's housing market problems.
Perhaps a better question might be "how capable to you believe the government is at helping the housing market improve?"