President Obama nominated Representative Mel Watt (D–NC) as new chief regulator to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), replacing the current acting director Edward DeMarco. Watt has strong support from liberals in both the House and the Senate as a longtime member of the House Financial Services Committee and advocate …
According to a poll earlier this year, voters have a higher opinion of cockroaches than Congressmen. President Obama’s personal popularity remains solid, but his job approval rating is going down. Why are our elected officials unpopular? It might just be because they are not listening. In poll after poll, the …
The National Small Business Association’s economic report finds, “The growing national debt is the number one thing small businesses thin[k] Congress and the administration should address.” Small businesses employ the majority of American workers and are vital to the innovation that grows the American economy. After a severe recession, the …
Two recent reports document anew the failure of federal agencies to meet the extensive rulemaking requirements of the Dodd–Frank statute. The regulatory backlog highlights how unworkable the law is for both bureaucrats and businesses. As of February 1, a total of 63 percent of the rulemaking deadlines have been missed, …
Not many people know the meaning of “swap” (as in a financial hedge, not flea market). Only the most sophisticated investors actually understand the complexities of buffering risk by exchanging cash flows. Under Dodd–Frank, however, federal regulators have been tasked with assuming control of this market, in which hundreds of …
President Obama, moving quickly to complete the lineup for his second-term regulatory team, nominated attorney Mary Jo White yesterday to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The selection is a critical one, as the agency is still struggling to complete the rulemakings required under the Dodd–Frank financial regulation act, …
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has imposed yet more regulation on the mortgage market, as required by the Dodd–Frank statute. The latest set of requirements and restrictions focuses on mortgage servicers, those who are hired by lenders to collect payments and manage other administrative aspects of home loans. Bureau …
After three years of hyper-regulation, the Obama Administration has noticeably slowed its rulemaking in recent months. A variety of major rules have been parked in prolonged “review” by the White House, while the regulatory agenda required by statute has failed to materialize—twice. This flouting of the law is disturbing enough, …
Last week, Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, was sued by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan for allegedly defrauding the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). This is just the latest proof that additional regulation of major banks’ mortgage lending is not needed. As a series of recently filed lawsuits shows, …
