Is life support always good for the patient?

This isn't the health care bill we're talking about, but government subsidies for home purchases.

The federal government's $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, which expires Nov. 30, is the best-known stimulative giveaway. Washington asks only that buyers ante up the requisite 31/2 percent down payment.

But that apparently was too cruel a demand for Gov. Charlie Crist and Co. in Tallahassee. Starting in August, Florida legislators decided to provide home buyers a cash advance on that $8,000.

In other words, home buyers who take the Florida freebie have no chips on the gaming table. They're playing with someone else's money.

Remember how well 100 percent financing worked in 2005?

The theory behind the handouts makes sense. We have so many millions of excess homes crowding the market, the government must play matchmaker between buyer and seller.

In Florida, about 106,000 home buyers have tapped the credit, but based on conversations with several Tampa Bay house hunters, many would have bought absent the giveaway.

But you have to question the wisdom of subsidizing home buyers whose banks accounts are running on empty. Is a 31/2 percent down payment - the minimum required by federally backed mortgages - such a back breaker?

Consider that the typical home in the Tampa Bay area sells for $140,000. The down payment would be $4,900. To crib a line from one of those Save the Children commercials, that's just $4.47 a day over three years, the amount of time you have to hold the home to keep the credit.

Hillsborough County Realtor Lisa Mann offered a sound defense of the subsidies. She correctly pointed out that many fork over $900 a month in rent but would pay only $800 for a monthly mortgage. They lack a down payment to close the deal. They need the helping hand of government.

But most renters avoid the unexpected costs that can bushwhack homeowners. Property taxes rise. Insurance payments skyrocket. Roofs shed their shingles. Water tanks burst. AC units fail in the heat of summer.

Let's end by quoting Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He opined this week that "life support" for the housing market has to end.

"The market for housing will not become truly robust until market forces replace the prostheses of government support," Fisher proclaimed.

Sooner rather than later, the housing market will have to stand on its own.