Federal Housing Administration Is Undermining Responsible Housing Policy
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has discrepancies in its loan portfolio that are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon and will continue to pose a… Read More
FHA: The Next Round of Housing Bailouts?
Despite some efforts this year to improve its financial position, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will reportedly seek a bailout from the federal government to… Read More
New Fannie Bond Issue Elevates Need for Higher G-Fees
As Congress contemplates legislation to end Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government agency running their operations is trying to make that task easier. However,… Read More
Lowering Loan Limits: An Overdue Step to Bringing Private Capital Back to Housing
As legislation moves through Congress to address the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has indicated it will… Read More
Obama: End Fannie and Freddie, but Keep Government in Housing Business
President Obama lent his voice today to the growing consensus in Washington that federally sponsored housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must go. While… Read More
U.S. Mortgage Market Reform: Corker–Warner Bill Misguided
Draft legislation by Senators Bob Corker (R–TN) and Mark Warner (D–VA) would wind down federally sponsored housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but… Read More
Another Subprime Idea from Obama
The Obama Administration is reportedly pushing banks to increase mortgage lending to people with relatively weak credit in hopes of boosting home sales. But the… Read More
IMF: Fannie and Freddie Threaten U.S. Fiscal Health
Followers of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have long joked that the fund’s acronym stands for “It’s Mostly Fiscal.” For a long time it has… Read More
DeMarco Signals a Better Housing Policy by Putting Taxpayers First
Ed DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), got it right by putting taxpayers’ interests ahead of the Obama Administration’s wishes…. Read More
Morning Bell: What if Fannie and Freddie Were Eliminated?
For the past several years, it’s not been an uncommon sight in Anytown, USA, to drive down the street and see home after home for… Read More
Chart of the Week: Nearly Half of All Americans Don’t Pay Income Taxes
This year’s Index of Dependence on Government presented startling findings about the sharp increase of Americans who rely on the federal government for housing, food,… Read More
Morning Bell: Dependence on Government Highest in History
When John F. Kennedy was President, just over a quarter of federal spending went to fund programs paying for some 21.7 million Americans to be… Read More
State of the Housing Market: New Refinancing Promises?
During his State of the Union speech, President Obama introduced a new plan to save responsible homeowner $3,000 a year on their mortgages by refinancing… Read More
Morning Bell: Agenda 21 and the Threat in Your Backyard
Ready to trade in your car for a bike, or maybe a subway instead? Interested in fewer choices for your home, paying more for housing,… Read More
FHFA Sues Banks to Recover Housing Bond Losses: Less Than Meets the Eye?
News reports say that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) will sue about 12 major banks in order to recover some of the losses that… Read More
Morning Bell: Time to End Fannie and Freddie
Four years after home values in America plummeted, fears over America’s housing market remain. In testimony before Congress yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cited… Read More
Lunch with Heritage Online Chat – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Heritage expert David John recently wrote a paper titled “End Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to Build Tomorrow’s Housing Finance System” What will ending Fannie… Read More
Fannie and Freddie: The Sky’s the Limit
While most of us were at home waiting for Santa and his reindeer to arrive, a gift arrived for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie… Read More
The Cloakroom: September 8 – 13
Senate Analysis – Returning from their five-week summer vacation, Senators face an ambitious agenda that includes liberal health care reform, a cap-and-tax energy policy, financial… Read More
Smoking Gun of the Housing Crisis
At yesterday’s Bloggers Briefing at Heritage, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, touted a 26-page report that… Read More
Tributes to Jack Kemp: “A Man Above Men”
As we come across them, we will post tributes to the legacy and life of Jack F. Kemp. This one comes from Mrs. Mildred Hailey, the founder of… Read More
War on the American Dream: Sapping America’s Potential
Government Controlled Life Stimulus: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 significantly grew the size and scope of government, doubling the size of… Read More
Regulators, Risk and Roubini
Via Greg Mankiw, Bentley University professor Scott Sumner writes on efficient-markets hypothesis (EMH): So the anti-EMH argument for regulation must be based on the following:… Read More
“A Bureaucratic and Administrative Nightmare”
7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge Richard Posner and Nobel Laureate Gary Becker weigh in on President Barack Obama’s mortgage bailout plan on their… Read More
Neighborhood Destabilization Act: H.R. 1106
“Helping Families Save Their Homes Act”? Or Neighborhood Destabilization Act: Allows bankruptcy judges to reduce the principal owed on a mortgage, a practice often referred… Read More
Market-Based Solutions: The 20% Zip Code Housing Plan
University of Chicago school of business professor Luigi Zingales has a plan to address the housing crisis that doesn’t involve bankruptcy judge cram downs or… Read More
The Mortgage Financing Game
Congress is lining up the list of suspects to assign blame for the financial crisis. However, all of the obvious suspects — the Fed, Fannie… Read More
Morning Bell: Vital and Acceptable
The $700 billion financial rescue that the House will vote on today is a significant improvement over the drafts released last Friday, and the Friday… Read More
Any Financial Cleanup Plan Must…
Democrats on Capitol Hill are claiming they have reached a deal with President Bush on a plan to cleanse the financial system of bad housing-related… Read More
Understanding the Credit Crisis
Heritage fellow JD Foster explains what led to the credit crisis and why it cannot be ignored. There are unprecedented problems in the financial markets…. Read More
