Browse by Tags

The GSE's infrastructures are strong. Their leadership is struggling to do the right thing but the unclear future brought on by a lack of public policy from the White House is clouding their ability to deal with the reality and the magnitude of the issue. Congress should act quickly to remake them into a single entity for the future business, and a single entity to deal with the past failures (Good Bank-Bad Bank). ...

If the market ever expects housing to contribute 25% to 30% of GDP again, it will require congress to completely overhaul the housing finance system, deleverage those institutions that have enjoyed the “too big to fail” status and let the private markets control housing rather than the socialized housing system currently in place....

The Dodd- Frank Bill has laid out a pathway for future operations in the financial services arena. However, the road has not yet been paved. The job of laying the pavement has been left to individual industry regulators who have 270 days from the date of passage to develop, write, publish, submit for comment and issue as final the regulation which will govern our business for the foreseeable future. This guidance giving, as opposed to concrete rulemaking, has created confusion in interpreting new risk retention rules. ...

This week the House Financial Services Committee will focus on all the mechanisms that support the nation’s mortgage market, including the Federal Housing Administration, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Home Loan Banks, and private lenders and securitizers. One of Washington’s most respected voices in housing policy will be listening for answers to five specific questions....

Unless we agree that our housing finance structure of the future is a “national” function – run in large measure by the federal government and funded by taxpayers --- we are long overdue to begin in earnest the debate over the real future of this industry. The first, honest question of that discussion should be: Is there any role for left the GSEs? ...