On Friday, December 9, 2011, Representative Dave Camp (R-MI), with several cosponsors, introduced H.R. 3630, the “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011.” The 369-page bill consists of six titles, main elements of which are discussed below. Title I of the bill gets the government out of …
House investigators are alleging a White House double standard in its rhetoric toward executive compensation for large financial institutions. The allegations appear in a report released in advance of a hearing on government-back housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. President Obama ramped up the populist rhetoric in 2009 with …
Government programs cannot stop the decline in housing prices. The latest evidence of this comes from a study of first-time homebuyers who took advantage of an $8,000 tax credit available between 2009 and September 2010. According to a new study, housing prices in 110 of 157 studied cities have dropped …
Undeterred by the underperformance of several previous efforts at mortgage refinancing, the Obama Administration has announced yet another plan designed to refinance the “underwater” mortgages of homeowners who owe more on their mortgage than their houses are currently worth. However, this version of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HAMP) has …
The Washington Post reports that President Obama wants the federal government to continue to have a major role in housing finance, perhaps by creating a new version of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Despite an almost immediate denial of the story by Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wollin, the Post’s account …
Four years after home values in America plummeted, fears over America’s housing market remain. In testimony before Congress yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cited “the continuing depressed condition of the housing sector” as one of the factors behind America’s sagging economy. In response to the poor market, the White …
After more than a year of delay, the House Financial Services Committee is finally starting work on legislation that will hopefully end Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two housing finance giants that helped to make the housing crisis worse. Both essentially failed in September 2008 and have been in …
