Morning Bell: Having Their Cake and Eating It, Too
Yesterday before the Joint Economic Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made a clear case as to why federal action is needed: home mortgages and… Read More
Yesterday before the Joint Economic Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made a clear case as to why federal action is needed: home mortgages and… Read More
There is no doubt that past government intervention in the market, particularly by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is largely to blame for the current… Read More
The $700 billion that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is requesting from Congress to restore liquidity in the financial markets is a breathtaking sum of money…. Read More
As a general principle, conservatives believe government should not intervene to protect those who have made poor business decisions — even if those decisions have… Read More
The following language was circulated on Capitol Hill this morning as Treasury’s plan to purchase residential or commercial mortgages. Heritage released eight goals and strategies… Read More
In what some observers are calling a reshaping of Wall Street, two of the world’s largest investment banks, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers, are set… Read More
This weekend Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will be placed in a government conservatorship that closely resembles… Read More
Heritage’s James Sherk says the employment estimates for August are being affected by the collapse of the housing bubble and the high cost of energy…. Read More
In 2004, after a tip from a whistle blower who was later fired, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (Ofheo) issued a report finding… Read More
The latest news out of Capitol Hill is that the Senate will take up legislation enacting a much needed update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance… Read More
Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) may not know what interest rates currently are, but the Wall Street Journal has crunched the numbers and… Read More
As bad as the incestuous relationship between Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) and Countrywide Financial is, it probably is not even the worst part of the… Read More
Despite the fact that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) now admits he was a Countrywide Financial “VIP” since 1993, Congress is still barreling ahead with the… Read More
Yesterday Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.) became the first member of Congress to call for an investigation into the relationship between Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) $300… Read More
Jim Johnson, the man recently chosen by Sen. Barack Obama to search for a VP candidate, is under fire for receiving millions of dollars in… Read More
Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) authored a bill (with 11 co-sponsors, including Sen. Barack Obama) that was incorporated into a housing bill… Read More
During the debate on the housing bailout bill last week, Democrats consistently justified their “American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act” by citing the Treasury… Read More
While CNN reports that Americans are split evenly (49% for, 48% against) on bailing out people who paid to much for real estate, the newsroom… Read More
A publicly traded corporation announces a $2.2 billion quarterly loss, a dividend cut and warns that steeper losses are sure to come. One might expect… Read More
The United States likes to think of itself as a model of free markets. Unfortunately, in far too many sectors of the economy the reality… Read More
This week the House is set to pass legislation to help homeowners who spent too much on their homes avoid foreclosure. From the beginning, the… Read More
The New York Times had a disturbing story today on one element of the housing bailout plan Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) plans to have on… Read More
Visiting Heritage scholar Wendell Cox has a new paper out titled “How Smart Growth Exacerbated the International Financial Crisis” in which he praises New York… Read More
CATO’s Timothy Lee makes a great connection between the absence of school choice in our current education system and the recent housing bubble burst. First… Read More
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Bill Steigerwald posted a great Q&A interaction with Heritage housing expert Ron Utt this weekend. Excerpts include: Q: Is this subprime mortgage lending… Read More
Losses are mounting. The situation shows no sign of getting better. It’s clear that U.S. government intervention has made the problem only worse. The economy… Read More
“So you bought an overpriced house or cashed out your home equity like an ATM? Here’s an idea: Take responsibility for your actions!” That’s the… Read More
USA Today’s take on the mortgage mess posed a crucial question: “Should taxpayers in Vermont be asked to bail out home buyers in Nevada?” The… Read More
As Congress mulls what it can do to untangle the housing mess, it should take care to limit its largesse to helping only those people… Read More
The New York Times is shocked – SHOCKED – to learn the Senate’s legislative remedy for the mortgage mess offers surprisingly little relief for folks… Read More
