Last week marked the fourth anniversary of the federal government’s takeover of the government-sponsored entities (GSEs) …
FHFA
Why is Ed DeMarco Blocking a Win-Win Housing Program?
Widespread principal reduction for underwater homes has long been the Holy Grail for many observers of the housing market, as well as for those who believe the weak housing market is one of the heaviest burdens weighing on the …
Congressmen Accuse Fannie and Freddie Boss of Ideological Bias
Updated at 1:30 p.m.
There’s a sizable portion of the American public that’s against bailing out underwater American homeowners under any circumstances. That sentiment was most eloquently summed up by CNBC’s Rick …
Building a Better Bailout: Can Fannie and Freddie Help American Homeowners?
Since the financial crisis, American taxpayers have collectively made all sorts of investments that would have been unthinkable ten years ago. We bought stakes in the auto and insurance industries and, perhaps most significantly, …
Is Fannie and Freddie Honcho Ed DeMarco “America’s Most Dangerous Man?”
Ed DeMarco, acting head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), doesn’t have the look of a comic-book super-villain, but if you listen to some of the barbs his critics hurl at him, DeMarco is more dastardly than The Joker …
Plotting the Future of Fannie and Freddie
One of the many cans being kicked down Washington’s boulevards these days is the government conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, Congress and the Bush administration …
Is Freddie Mac Betting Against the American Homeowner?
The non-profit investigative journalism organization ProPublica, in cooperation with National Public Radio, published a story yesterday revealing that Freddie Mac, the government-owned mortgage financier, has recently been …
Please, Stop Saying That Lending Standards Are Tight
The continued sluggishness of the residential real estate market is maddening and, very likely, holding back other sectors of the economy. We’d all like to find a solution, of course. But in our frustration, it seems, we have a …
