Question?

I recently had this discussion with a few co-workers.
If you qualify to take advantage of government program such as the Tarp fund housing rescue, should you? Consider the criteria. A person who has worked their entire adult life, always paid their taxes and never has used a government program before. Should they do it? Will they ever get the money they put into the system already? Should they stand on principle? Is this program really any different than cash for clunkers? Is it different than the "first time" home buyer program? I will leave my opinion out of it for a second, what are your thoughts?