Qtec
08-03-2012, 05:22 AM
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Regulator Rebuffs Obama on Plan to Ease Housing Debt
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM
WASHINGTON — The independent federal agency that administers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said on Tuesday that <u>it would not let the mortgage companies offer debt forgiveness to borrowers, again rejecting the entreaties of the Obama administration.
</u>
<span style='font-size: 14pt'>The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it had concluded after months of study that up to half a million homeowners could benefit from such a program, and that taxpayers might save $1 billion because aid recipients would be more likely to continue making mortgage payments.</span>
<u>But the agency’s acting director,</u> Edward J. DeMarco, said the benefits most likely would be much smaller — too small in his judgment to offset potential costs, including the risk that some borrowers would stop making payments in pursuit of a better deal.
Offering debt forgiveness “would not make a meaningful improvement in reducing foreclosures in a cost-effective way for taxpayers,” Mr. DeMarco said in a statement Tuesday.
The announcement is a direct rebuff to the Obama administration, which has pressed Mr. DeMarco for more than a year to let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac join <u>nearly every other major mortgage company in offering debt forgiveness to borrowers who owe more than the value of their homes.</u>
On Tuesday, the Treasury Department immediately called for the agency to reconsider. “I do not believe it is the best decision for the country,” Timothy F. Geithner, the secretary, wrote in a public letter to Mr. DeMarco.
The decision also infuriated Congressional Democrats, while Republicans rallied to the agency’s defense. </div></div>
Why?
Krugman explains.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Debt, Depression, DeMarco
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 2, 2012 19 Comments
There has been plenty to criticize about President Obama’s handling of the economy. Yet the overriding story of the past few years is not Mr. Obama’s mistakes <span style='font-size: 14pt'>but the scorched-earth opposition of Republicans, who have done everything they can to get in his way — and who now, having blocked the president’s policies, hope to win the White House by claiming that his policies have failed.
And this week’s shocking refusal to implement debt relief by the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency — a Bush-era holdover the president hasn’t been able to replace — illustrates perfectly what’s going on.</span>
.. The idea of using Fannie and Freddie has bipartisan support. Indeed, Columbia’s Glenn Hubbard, a top Romney adviser, has called on Fannie and Freddie to let homeowners with little or no equity refinance their mortgages, which could sharply cut their interest payments and provide a major boost to the economy. The Obama administration supports this idea and has also proposed a special program of relief for deeply troubled borrowers.
But Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the agency that oversees Fannie and Freddie, refuses to move on refinancing. And, this week, he rejected the administration’s relief plan.
Who is Ed DeMarco? He’s a civil servant who became acting director of the housing finance agency after the Bush-appointed director resigned in 2009.<span style='font-size: 14pt'> He is still there, in the fourth year of the Obama administration, because Senate Republicans have blocked attempts to install a permanent director. And he evidently just hates the idea of providing debt relief.</span> </div></div>
ie a rat. Krugman nails it here and no reasonable person could disagree.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">But the DeMarco affair nonetheless demonstrates, once again, <span style='font-size: 14pt'>the extent to which U.S. economic policy has been crippled by unyielding, irresponsible political opposition. If our economy is still deeply depressed, much — and I would say most — of the blame rests not with Mr. Obama but with the very people <u>seeking to use that depressed economy for political advantage.</u></span> </div></div>
Read it here. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/opinion/krugman-debt-depression-demarco.html?_r=1)
Extending misery for political gain. How low can you go?
Q
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM
WASHINGTON — The independent federal agency that administers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said on Tuesday that <u>it would not let the mortgage companies offer debt forgiveness to borrowers, again rejecting the entreaties of the Obama administration.
</u>
<span style='font-size: 14pt'>The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it had concluded after months of study that up to half a million homeowners could benefit from such a program, and that taxpayers might save $1 billion because aid recipients would be more likely to continue making mortgage payments.</span>
<u>But the agency’s acting director,</u> Edward J. DeMarco, said the benefits most likely would be much smaller — too small in his judgment to offset potential costs, including the risk that some borrowers would stop making payments in pursuit of a better deal.
Offering debt forgiveness “would not make a meaningful improvement in reducing foreclosures in a cost-effective way for taxpayers,” Mr. DeMarco said in a statement Tuesday.
The announcement is a direct rebuff to the Obama administration, which has pressed Mr. DeMarco for more than a year to let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac join <u>nearly every other major mortgage company in offering debt forgiveness to borrowers who owe more than the value of their homes.</u>
On Tuesday, the Treasury Department immediately called for the agency to reconsider. “I do not believe it is the best decision for the country,” Timothy F. Geithner, the secretary, wrote in a public letter to Mr. DeMarco.
The decision also infuriated Congressional Democrats, while Republicans rallied to the agency’s defense. </div></div>
Why?
Krugman explains.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Debt, Depression, DeMarco
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 2, 2012 19 Comments
There has been plenty to criticize about President Obama’s handling of the economy. Yet the overriding story of the past few years is not Mr. Obama’s mistakes <span style='font-size: 14pt'>but the scorched-earth opposition of Republicans, who have done everything they can to get in his way — and who now, having blocked the president’s policies, hope to win the White House by claiming that his policies have failed.
And this week’s shocking refusal to implement debt relief by the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency — a Bush-era holdover the president hasn’t been able to replace — illustrates perfectly what’s going on.</span>
.. The idea of using Fannie and Freddie has bipartisan support. Indeed, Columbia’s Glenn Hubbard, a top Romney adviser, has called on Fannie and Freddie to let homeowners with little or no equity refinance their mortgages, which could sharply cut their interest payments and provide a major boost to the economy. The Obama administration supports this idea and has also proposed a special program of relief for deeply troubled borrowers.
But Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the agency that oversees Fannie and Freddie, refuses to move on refinancing. And, this week, he rejected the administration’s relief plan.
Who is Ed DeMarco? He’s a civil servant who became acting director of the housing finance agency after the Bush-appointed director resigned in 2009.<span style='font-size: 14pt'> He is still there, in the fourth year of the Obama administration, because Senate Republicans have blocked attempts to install a permanent director. And he evidently just hates the idea of providing debt relief.</span> </div></div>
ie a rat. Krugman nails it here and no reasonable person could disagree.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">But the DeMarco affair nonetheless demonstrates, once again, <span style='font-size: 14pt'>the extent to which U.S. economic policy has been crippled by unyielding, irresponsible political opposition. If our economy is still deeply depressed, much — and I would say most — of the blame rests not with Mr. Obama but with the very people <u>seeking to use that depressed economy for political advantage.</u></span> </div></div>
Read it here. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/opinion/krugman-debt-depression-demarco.html?_r=1)
Extending misery for political gain. How low can you go?
Q