INNOVATION - LEADERSHIP - STRATEGY
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Welcome!
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...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...