Last month, Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) suggested that maybe some form of “consumer cooperative” might be a politically acceptable alternative to the “competing public plan” idea. Since then, growing opposition to the “public plan” has fueled growing interest among Sen. Conrad’s colleagues in his “co-op” idea. However, as with the …
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 holds the government accountable for the housing crisis through its unsustainable drive to increase homeownership. The report sheds light on the unnecessary interference of government …
Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee has suggested that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the now bankrupt housing finance giants, should relax their lending standards. This suggestion is farcical. One’s immediate reaction after the laughter has subsided might well be, “will we never learn?” For many years, …
The Institute for Economic Affairs, the prestigious British think-tank, has released a comprehensive, two hundred page long, study of the causes of the financial crash. Its conclusion is that “Government failure had a leading role in creating the conditions that led to the crash.” As the IEA sums it up, …
The Center for Public Integrity has a new project up called The Subprime 25 that identifies the “top 25 lenders who were responsible for nearly $1 trillion of subprime loans made from 2005 through 2007. Together, the companies account for about 72 percent of high-priced loans reported to the government …
Speaking to a crowd of 1,500 supporters in Costa Mesa, California, about the bonuses given to employees of 80% taxpayer owned AIG, President Barack Obama said: “I know a lot of you are outraged about this. I’m outraged, too.” We’ll leave for others to decide the level of Obama’s outrage, especially considering …
At the height of the campaign season, House Oversight Committee chair Henry Waxman (D-CA) held a number of hearings on the burgeoning financial meltdown including investigations into the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the bailout of AIG, The Breakdown of Credit Rating Agencies, and The Role of Federal Regulators. The purpose …
Reporting on Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s new program to reduce monthly mortgage payments for those people who have missed at least 90 days worth of payments, The San Francisco Chronicle’s Kathleen Pender reports: Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital, predicts that many homeowners who have little or no …
