On September 6, 2018, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing to evaluate the ill-famed ten-year anniversary of conservatorship for government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Committee members and witnesses addressed the inherent dangers of keeping the status quo as well as potential reforms to limit systemic risk. What was supposed to […]
On September 6, 2008, mortgage giants and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into federal conservatorship in the wake of the housing market crash and global financial crisis. Nearly a decade later, neither the GSEs, the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA), nor Congress have offered any viable plans to unwind these […]
The stated mission of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is to “create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.” While that goal is laudable, the systemic dysfunction that permeates the department will prove to be a tough challenge for HUD Secretary Ben Carson.
In July 2016, Frederick County (Maryland) Executive Jan Gardner introduced a bill that would increase the county’s hotel tax from 3 percent to 5 percent. Despite denials from Gardner, State Senator Ron Young (D-District 3), State Delegate Karen Young (D-District 3), and State Delegate Carol Crimm (D-District 3) that the new tax revenue will not be used to fund certain aspects of a planned $84 million Downtown Frederick Hotel and Conference Center, that does not appear to true. Part of the revenue generated from the hotel tax hike will pay down the $3.5 million in debt payments for the conference center over the course of a 25-year contract.
When the Jackson Five (featuring a very young Michael Jackson) appeared on American Bandstand on February 21, 1970, they sang about love being as easy as learning the ABCs. But childhood crushes pale in comparison to a truly nefarious coupling: the marriage of private gains and taxpayer losses.
Political discourse these days, particularly on the left, often takes the form of haranguing the much-vaunted “1 percent” to “spread the wealth” to the remaining 99 percent, as though such redistribution would solve society’s ills. The inadequacies of this idea notwithstanding, perhaps the discussion—at least in the context of the mortgage giants Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac)—can shift to something that is both more achievable and more beneficial to taxpayers: spreading the risk.
For those who didn’t get enough of “Mortgage Meltdown” (the original) the first time around, the remake is sure to be appearing soon in a nearby theater.
It is very interesting how swiftly Washington can move when taxpayers aren’t “in the know.”
On February 11, 2015, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro testified before the House Financial Services Committee at an oversight hearing on the Federal Housing Administration.
It is no secret that the federal government has too much real property. Plainly put, Uncle Sam is one extremely disorganized landlord that likes to purchase, lease, and hoard large amounts of costly real estate. And as with most operations left to languish at the hands of bureaucrats, the business is terribly wrought with mismanagement and a serious lack of transparency.
