NewsTrust - Real Estate - Most Recent Stories: Opinion

Is the American dream a nightmare?

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By Susan E. Reed - Apr. 23 (Opinion) - The hidden menace of homeownership. It was a startling and controversial conclusion. But now it is beginning to make more sense. It turns out that a high rate of homeownership just might be bad for the economy.Homeownership has been a long nurtured desire of many Americans. Public officials relaxed mortgage requirements 10 years ago because they wanted everyone to live the dream. It seemed to be great for the economy, until the crash last year.

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Obama team still in the grip of the market mystique

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Paul Krugman - Mar. 29 (Opinion) - Much discussion of the toxic-asset plan has focused on the details and the arithmetic, and rightly so. Beyond that, however, what's striking is the vision expressed both in the content of the financial plan and in statements by administration officials. In essence, the administration seems to believe that once investors calm down, securitization — and the business of finance — can resume where it left off a year or two ago.

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Calling the hardship department

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Pilot & Today - By Joanne Palmer - Jan. 28 (Opinion) - I have morphed into what realtors call a “motivated seller.” My furniture fantasies have disappeared. I now daydream about a high-paying, full-time job with benefits and eating something besides pasta for dinner. I am in the worst financial shape of my life. This is a hard thing to admit, especially since it’s my own darn fault.

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Thumbs Up for the Citigroup Bailout

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Wall Street Journal - By Eugene Ludwig - Nov. 25 (Opinion) - While the capital injections favored by the Treasury may have become necessary, they were clearly not sufficient. True, the government's largesse has been distributed relatively quickly and efficiently. However, it is a losing proposition to apply capital if the troubled assets are left in place.

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Texas Faith: Is it possible to think of an economy not driven by greed and fear?

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Dallas Morning News - Oct. 18 (Interview) - Texas Faith is a weekly discussion that poses questions about religion, politics and culture to a panel of Texas religious leaders. This week's question: Is it possible to think of an economy not driven by greed and fear? If so, what would that economy look like?

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Bailouts are inevitable, even desirable

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Slate - By Tim Harford - Oct. 04 (Opinion) - It's easy to sympathize: The erstwhile masters of the universe seem to have forgotten the meaning of both moral and hazard. Why should they be helped now?

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Congress & the Bailout: This just stinks

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Post Intelligencer - Oct. 02 (Editorial) - We ought to be able to debate the merits of a critical piece of legislation like the economic future of our nation without resorting to gimmicks. This is Congress at its worst.

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Wash Post's Pearlstein: Anyone opposing the bailout is ignorant

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - Oct. 02 (Opinion) - Pearlstein -- and so many other bailout cheerleaders -- scorns those same concerns as grounded in stupidity and ignorance when they come from the ugly, loudmouth, teeming, insubordinate masses who refuse to obediently bear the massive debt being tossed on their backs.

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New banking rules: tread carefully

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Financial Times - By Howard Davies - Oct. 01 (Opinion) - There is a strong populist strain of anti-banking sentiment in the US (vividly demonstrated in Congress this week) and in the UK. Banks are especially unpopular in two circumstances: first, when they are very profitable; and second, when they are very unprofitable.

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Why the Bailout Sells America Short

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Nomi Prins - Oct. 01 (Opinion) - The $700 billion bailout bill that failed in the House after a dramatic Monday afternoon vote addressed many things, but not the regulatory vacuum that allowed Wall Street to get us into this mess. Wrapped in a bipartisan bow, this plan--dubbed a "rescue" package on the Hill and a "bailout" elsewhere--will neither save the economy nor permanently shore up Wall Street.

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The Trickle-Up Bailout

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Jonathan G.S. Koppell, William N. Goetzmann - Oct. 01 (Opinion) - The financial crisis is a liquidity crisis, yes, but it is ultimately a product of homeowner failures to pay. Unless this fundamental problem is fixed, we will continue to see -- and need to treat -- the symptoms. The proposed bailout ignores this. Yet the sum being demanded from taxpayers is almost certainly more than sufficient to pay off all currently delinquent mortgages.

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We Need to Recapitalize the Banks

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Edmund S. Phelps - Oct. 01 (Opinion) - The banks' losses might seem poetic justice after their abominable performance. But costly feedback effects on the rest of us are in prospect.

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Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson, U.S Treasury Department

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Real Clear Politics - By Henry Paulson - Sep. 19 (Press Release) - We must now take further, decisive action to fundamentally and comprehensively address the root cause of our financial system's stresses.

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The sunny side of Wall Street

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Christian Science Monitor - Sep. 18 (Editorial) - Now, with the collapse of several financial institutions and a dramatic fall in stock prices, Americans need to relearn the prudent use of credit in order to avoid taking on too much debt and putting too much faith in single markets, such as housing.

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Heck of a Job, Bernanke

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - Sep. 13 (Opinion) - Lehman has been going down for weeks, despite having the privilege of borrowing money from the Federal Reserve using its junky mortgage bonds as collateral. The next question is whether Henry Paulson, the rough-mannered Secretary of the Treasury, and Ben Bernanke, the milder- mannered Fed Chairman, get into their ambulance and scream off to the rescue once again.

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Who gets a government bailout?

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Slate - By Daniel Gross - Sep. 13 (Opinion) - Bailouts--the government's stepping in and providing financial assistance or credit guarantees to private-sector companies--are a highly confusing subject. As policymakers hasten to save some companies from the ravages of creative destruction, they leave others to fail.

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Wall Street Sank Freddie and Fannie

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Columbia Journalism Review - By Dean Starkman - Sep. 09 (Opinion) - Wall Street dominated the subprime market, which crashed the credit market, which crashed the asset values of Freddie and Fannie, obliterating their (very thin) capital bases and leading us to this moment. Listen, you'll get no elegies from me for these government-sponsored candy stores. It's clear they used their taxpayer-supported advantages in the financial markets to keep their regulators at bay and buy protection from Congress. That stinks. The Wall Street Journal today smartly reminds readers of the staggering size of the GSEs' lobbying bill--$170 million over ten years. Ponder that one for a second. As their time was running out, they spent $3.5 million in the first quarter alone on forty-two lobbying firms. That's $83,000 a piece-- probably enough to pay the sushi bills.

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We'll Protect Taxpayers From More Bailouts

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Opinion Journal (WSJ) - By John Mccain, Sarah Palin - Sep. 09 (Opinion) - We promise the American people that our administration will be different. We have long records of standing up to special interests and providing the leadership to change government and make it more accountable to the American taxpayer. In our administration, every agency and department will undergo rigorous oversight and review. We will require the highest standards of accounting, reporting and transparency ever demanded in government.

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Loan Rangers

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

New Yorker - By John Cassidy - Jul. 22 (Opinion) - Policymakers now face a series of decisions that will determine not merely the fate of this particular cycle but the nature of the federal government's role in the economy for the next generation. In a political system as balkanized as ours, it is only in moments of genuine danger that meaningful reforms get enacted.

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Securitization and the Mortgage Mess

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Vincent Reinhart - Jul. 18 (Opinion) - The problem with securitization is that it dilutes individual responsibility. The mortgage broker can easily become disconnected from the outcome of the initial lending decision. Federal regulation is needed to ensure that mortgage originators perform the appropriate due diligence in matching potential borrowers with loan products. Underwriters should be required to retain an interest in what they issue.

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L-ish economic prospects

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - Jul. 18 (Opinion) - Home prices are in free fall. Unemployment is rising. Consumer confidence is plumbing depths not seen since 1980. When will it all end? The answer is, probably not until 2010 or later.

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A Look at the Financial Crisis

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Danny Schechter, Max Fraad Wolff, Juan Gonzalez - Jul. 17 (Interview) - SCHECHTER: The FBI...[has] 1,200 investigations underway...into Bear Stearns... IndyMac, and other banks. So, I think when the dust shifts, you know, finally, we're going to find out that this is a criminal action--cabal, really--by people in the market who were out, driven by greed, to make as much money as they can. The victims of all this can be seen in the mounting foreclosures that are sweeping the nation.

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There Is No Reason to Panic

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Peter J. Wallison - Jul. 14 (Opinion) - If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were ordinary corporations, the sudden collapse of investor confidence last week would have set them to work on their bankruptcy applications. But they are not ordinary corporations -- and they are likely to survive because their debt securities have been viewed for decades as ultimately backed by the U.S. government.

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Developing the New "Capitalists' Man"

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Dean Baker - Apr. 28 (Opinion) - For example, in some of the rapidly deflating bubble markets, many homeowners are in situations where they owe $400,000 or $500,000 on a home that today is worth $100,000 less than the amount of their mortgage. In this situation, homeowners can effectively save $100,000 if they stop paying the mortgage and let the bank foreclose on the house. . . . As a committed capitalist, we might expect Mr. Paulson to applaud people taking initiative and acting to improve their plight. Instead, he is insisting that these homeowners should ignore their self-interest and act in the interest of the banks.

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Wells Fargo Challenged on Racial Inequities

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

United for a Fair Economy - By United for a Fair Economy - Apr. 25 (Press Release) - Wells Fargo's Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) report for 2006 shows a substantial increase in high-cost, subprime loans . . . African-Americans were 3.69 times more likely than whites and Latinos were 1.82 times more likely than whites to receive a high-cost loan from Wells Fargo in 2006.

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