In 1980, one of the major party presidential nominees opened his general election by delivering a speech in a small town in the Deep South that just by coincidence happened to be the national headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan. That same candidate had previously complained about federal housing policies which attempted “to inject black […]
Archive | Housing
Why Small Business Isn’t Hiring
My Case Western colleague, Scott Shane, has a brief item linking the lack of hiring by small businesses to the collapse in home prices. Specifically, he identifies five reasons the “residential real-estate mess” is holding back small business job creation: Declining house prices have softened demand for small businesses’ products and services. Small businesses are […]
Some Troubling Housing Market News from Abroad
While the U.S. and several other countries are in the throes of a housing recession/depression following the great bubble, housing markets in countries where the economy is still relatively sound–Australia, China, Canada–seem to still be in bubble mode. Indeed, word from my in-laws in Israel is that the housing market there, which wasn’t bubbly earlier […]
FHA Slightly Tightens Loan Requirements
Instead of letting housing prices find the natural market-clearing price, many in the government have been supporting the efforts of those trying to reinflate the housing bubble. The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has been backing up to half of the mortgage market in some locales — allowing ridiculously low down payments of 3.5%, plus allowing […]
More on California Tax-Services Model – William Voegeli Responds to Comments
By Kenneth Anderson on November 9, 2009 4:14 pm in California, Economy, Housing, Property Rights, Regulation, Voting With Your Feet
Last week I blogged about a very interesting article in the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal by Claremont Review of Books contributing editor William Voegeli titled “The Big-Spending, High-Taxing, Lousy Services Paradigm” (Autumn 2009). It compared the tax-services models of California and Texas. VC commenters were spirited as ever and raised a number of important questions. Although […]
Fannie Mae to rent out homes instead of foreclosing
AP reports on a new Fannie Mae program to allow homeowners who can’t pay their mortgages to rent instead: Thousands of borrowers on the verge of foreclosure will soon have the option of renting their homes from Fannie Mae, under a policy announced Thursday. The government-controlled company, through its new “Deed for Lease” program, will […]
The California versus Texas Model, and Public Choice
By Kenneth Anderson on November 2, 2009 9:27 pm in California, Economy, Housing, Politics, Regulation, Voting With Your Feet
William Voegeli, a contributing editor at The Claremont Review of Books, has an excellent essay in Manhattan Journal comparing the economic performance of California and Texas. (I believe a short opinion page version appeared recently in the LAT.) Among other things, the article provides a good example for how a public choice analysis can be […]
Peter Wallison on the Role of Government in Causing the Mortgage Crisis
In a recent post, I discussed how the Federal Housing Administration’s subsidization of dubious mortgage loans is repeating one of the key errors that helped cause the financial crisis of 2008. In this Wall Street Journal op ed, Peter Wallison (who presciently warned of the danger posed by these policies back in 2005) summarizes the […]
Repeating the Mistakes of the Mortgage Crisis
The Federal Housing Administration seems intent on repeating one of the key policy errors that played a major role in causing last year’s financial crisis. One of the main causes of the mortgage crisis that led to the broader financial crisis of 2008 was government subsidization of risky mortgages for people who were unlikely to […]