Government influence on choice

I was thinking not too long ago on why I bought my house...  Was it because of the nice brick, the front lawn, perhaps the investment and ownership of owning your own space.  Although those are good reasons, I remember the exact reason why I eventually bought my home.  It wasn't for any of the above it was mainly due to the amount of income taxes I had been paying when renting.  I was living in a very modest apartment, not really owning any real equity but yet I was being "punished" by not having anything to write off.  Now owning a home I've been able to:

• Write off mortgage interest payments (which is quite significant)
• Write off mortgage insurance protection
• Write off sales tax (I live in Texas)
• Change my W-4 withholding

Just by the simple act of buying a home I was able to earn more of my money paycheck to paycheck AND receive some of my the income taxes back I had paid throughout the year.  So why am I talking about this now?  Well I thought about this when I was reading about the Cash for Clunkers program in which the Federal Government is providing incentives for individuals to trade in their so-called "gas guzzlers" for something more economical.  Wait...Let's describe it how it is.  It is the Government using taxpayer funded money for people to trade in their own vehicle to go into debt for another one.  This is clearly another scheme for the Government help "stimulate" the economy by artificially injecting taxpayer money for those that probably would have traded in their cars once gas hits $4/gallon again. 

Again, Government is here trying to force the will of the consumer in a trickery to trade in their cars.  Am I glad that it may provide a few more jobs...sure.  Am I upset for those that have received such of a generous deal...no.  What I am upset about is the Government using these programs to get people more in debt, artificially control the economy, and eventually ruining our financial system.  Sure...you can say we that we are in a deep recession...but we have to understand what got us here in the first place.