INNOVATION - LEADERSHIP - STRATEGY
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December 07, 2007
Welcome!
Please read and comment on the entries that follow. The most current one will be highlighed on this page; earlier entries can be found under the archives link below.
Read More...Chinatown
October 12, 2008
In a climactic scene of 1974's noir classic "Chinatown," Jack Nicholson's character LA private eye Jake Gittes is confronting Faye Dunaway's character Evelyn Cross Mulwray. Gittes demands that Mulwray explain the identity of the little girl she is trying to spirit out of town.
"She's my daughter," Mulwray says. Gittes slaps her hard.
She's my sister," Mulwray says, and Gittes slaps her again.
"She's my daughter." Slap. "She's… Read More...
Blame Game
October 09, 2008
The ongoing economic calamity has brought out plenty of bad attitude. But it's hard to top this rubbish from Ann Coulter's blog with the subtle title, They Gave Your Money to a Less Qualified Minority:
"This crisis was caused by political correctness being forced on the mortgage lending industry in the Clinton era.
"Before the… Read More...Game Over?
September 07, 2008
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, and FHFA Director James Lockhart announced on Sept. 7 that the US Government is taking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship until further notice.
Say, Hank, is that a bazooka in your pocket, or are you just glad to see us?
The government acquired $1 billion in… Read More...
Where Has All The Money Gone?
July 15, 2008
It will take years to sift through the mortgage market's wreckage before we know all the details behind its collapse. But public policy can't wait that long to draw some conclusions about the role played by low down payment home loans to people of modest means. This is of particular importance to federal bank regulators, who are responsible for enforcing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), and to whoever turns out to be the regulator for… Read More...
Get Me Rewrite!
July 14, 2008
Among all the depressing lowlights of last week's stock run on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the terrible quality of the coverage by nearly every outlet I encountered rates right at the top. Because I remain a Fannie Mae shareholder, I tried to follow this pretty closely. I even watched some cable financial news coverage, something I never do, and I hopped through Google and Yahoo Finance hourly.
Night after night, morning after morning, news outlets focused… Read More...
What Hath Dodd Wrought?
July 14, 2008
The comprehensive foreclosure relief and GSE reform bill has finally passed the U.S. Senate, after an embarrassingly long floor debate. It now heads for an inevitable conference with the House over differences in several areas. And the White Houses's 11th hour request on July 12 to add new authorities to back up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac promises to make the final discussions even more stressful.
It's ironic, then, that one of the centerpieces of the… Read More...
Trouble in Paradise
March 16, 2008
Government housing programs have a long history of flaming out shortly after being launched. Rising costs, corruption, scandals, mismanagement and popular opposition have all contributed to an average housing assistance program life span of only about 7 years, according to Charles L. Edson, one of the deans of Washington's assisted housing bar.
So when the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) was adopted in 1986, there was no reason to think it would fare any better. … Read More...
When Hell Freezes Over
March 16, 2008
The big financial news this week is that the Iron Curtain that was supposed to separate the well disciplined Masters of the Universe in private market investment banks from the girly-men of finance at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae has turned out to be nothing more substantial than tissue paper. The Fed joined in a shotgun marriage with JP Morgan Chase to staunch a run on Bear Stearns.
Can you spell "too big to fail?"
For years… Read More...
Foul Ball?
January 30, 2008
Maybe it's just me, but I thought there was some karmic convergence when in the same week Countrywide collapsed into the arms of Bank of America and former Sen. George Mitchell testified in Congress on the doping scandal in major league baseball.
Both events grew out of the same unnerving ability to rationalize anything to get to the top of the game or stay there. In baseball, world class athletes succumbed to whatever would get them… Read More...
Be Where the Ball is Going to Be
December 08, 2007
This week's announcement of an industry-wide agreement on subprime loan forebearance is a step forward. But no one, including those who hammered out the deal, thinks it is a solution to the looming foreclosure crisis. Tens of thousands already have lost their homes; the plan specifically limits its forebearance to a small segment of those affected; and the ability of servicers and lenders to modify individual loans with any real success is very limited. In… Read More...
