Last Thursday, CNBC analyst Rick Santelli asked workers on the Chicago Trade Floor if they wanted to pay for their neighbors’ mortgages.

They didn’t take to kindly to the idea. Which is unsurprising, since they won’t even pay for their own mistakes; why should they pay for someone else’s?

“This is America,” shouted Santelli, pointing to the trading floor around him. He continued his blast on people with mortgage troubles, calling them “losers” and decrying their extra bathrooms.

If that’s America, I’m a satsumi tree. I don’t believe America points the finger at its least fortunate and says, “There’s your problem!”

Santelli accused the government of “promoting bad behavior” because they are trying to help people with their mortgages. True, many homeowners shouldn’t have bought homes in the first place. But the investment banks sold securities based off of the mortgages of those losers. Isn’t that bad behavior? Where was his outburst when the investment banks got their bailout?

Apparently it’s not bad behavior to Santelli or his new fans. The bad behavior is from the greedy, lazy poor people who want to live off the taxes of hard-working floor traders.

When a man slips in a puddle of soda, you shouldn’t blame the person with head trauma and a ruined shirt. You blame the person who spilled the soda (banks and lenders) or the janitor who didn’t clean it up in time (government).

Should the slipping man have paid more attention? Maybe, but he’s still the victim. His mistake could have been prevented by the actions of others, and now he’s the one who is hurting most. Does that make him a loser?

In his video, Santelli suggests that the government buy the losers’ foreclosed homes and give them to people that can prosper down the road.

It’s Bizarro-Robin Hood — take from the needy and give to the rich.

Clearly, Santelli lives in bizarro-world, because the government doesn’t need to help people who can help themselves. It needs to help those who can’t.

But we can’t help other people; that collective ideology leads to socialism. Cuba, Santelli said, had a relatively decent economy and mansions before they became communist.

It’s easy to imagine Santelli standing in front of a Cuban mansion, yelling to the camera “This is Cuba,” as if societal success is defined by the wealthiest citizens.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there were 3,880,321 welfare recipients in 2007, as of Dec. 2007. According the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 37.3 million people in the U.S. living in poverty in 2007.

The vast majority of poor Americans aren’t on welfare, and it’s unfair to paint people in trouble as greedy and eager for handouts.

Near the end of the video, Santelli says he doesn’t want to be in the U.S. Senate.

Thank God. Congress has to deal with war in the Middle East, foreign aid, taxes, health care issues and education.

I’m glad Santelli isn’t considering public office. I don’t want him near any of those things. Because the last thing Congress needs is a senator who kicks people when they’re crawling.

Reach Chris at cogino@asu.edu.