Could have chosen differently

Via Digby, who excerpts Matt Taibbi’s book, Griftopia:

With the $13-plus trillion we are estimated to ultimately spend on the bailouts, We could not only have bought and paid off every single subprime mortgage in the country (that would only have cost $1.4 trillion), we could have paid off every remaining mortgage of any kind in this country-and still have had enough money left over to buy a new house for every American who does not already have one.

This comes back to a question I have not yet written about: How do we transform our economy when it is based on debt?  I cannot leave my job (and thereby stop commuting) because I need to pay my rent.  How can we expect people who have mortgages, student loan and/or credit card debt, medical insurance premiums, etc. to accept lower pay for the sake of using less gasoline?  All our encouragement to people that they sacrifice to conserve is empty talk if that sacrifice is going to lead them into bankruptcy.  We need strong government action at the national level to make this happen.  Taibbi’s suggestion could have been one place to start.