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So... the banks collect a higher interest rate with the ‘sell’ being you can deduct it on your taxes. Who is benefitting here? Banks. Eliminate the deduction and you will see mortgage rates drop slightly also as the cost of the mortgage increases.
Why should a payment I make to the bank be deductible on my income tax? Why should I expect others to subsidize my house purchases? Either we are consistent in our conservatism or selfish in our interests.

If you think bank rates are decided by the MI deduction, you don't know much about interest rates. I could go into a long dissertation to explain it to you ... but there are plenty of resources online to educate you, and it is not worth my time. The short version however is MI deduction has zero more impact on bank rates than any other tax or deduction. What impacts bank rates is the health of the economy, and the Fed Funds rate.

This notion that you are "subsidizing" someone else is a bit troubling. A hallmark of conservatism is that my money is my money. What you are saying is that the government has a right to more of my money, and that is anything BUT conservative. Unless and until we do away with an income tax, deductions are the one thing that help you keep more of your money. So, as long as there is an income tax, I am firmly in favor of a mortgage interest deduction.

So here is a quandary for those of you who favor elimination of the MI deduction. Do you ALSO favor elimination of the Property Tax deduction? If so, why or why not?