May 1, 2008 12:01

How about a property-tax holiday for the residents of Brooklyn, funded by the state of Wyoming?

A reader whose office happens to be a couple of doors down from mine writes, with regard to caitlilly's plaint about life in rural Wyoming in a time of a high gas prices:

Is "tough s***" an acceptable answer?

OK, maybe I wouldn't put it that harshly, although having spent half my life in the Detroit area I think I have a fair enough right to make the comment. But the tactful way of phrasing it is: don't lots of people live in places where their choice of location and lifestyle leaves them vulnerable to shifts in various markets?

For instance, people who live in urban areas, especially on the coasts, left themselves vulnerable to the dramatic rise in real estate costs and rents over the last several years. Should they get a tax credit? A property tax holiday?

Of course, the counterargument is that some people want to give people living in expensive places a bailout in the form of the mortgage bailout, which in my uninformed opinion is no better... but in any case I wonder how warm Wyoming residents are to helping foot the housing bills of people living in $500,000 condos.