mortgages

Reduced or Not, the Mortgage Interest Deduction Can Help Fix Sprawl

By Galina Tachieva / On September 19th, 2011

As of late, the mortgage interest deduction (MID), a tax break many Americans have become accustomed to, has become the focus of much debate and controversy. It first became the subject of heated discussion when President Obama’s debt commission suggested its reduction. They argued that in addition to reducing deficits, such reform could also help slow the growth of sprawl.

Sprawl is the Root Cause of the Financial Crisis

By [node:field_contributor] / On September 22nd, 2008

Ask most people about the causes of the current financial meltdown and the proposed massive Federal bailout and it comes down to two factors. First, sub-prime mortgages were made to households unable to pay for them when rates readjusted upward. Second, these mortgages were subdivided, given dubious credit ratings, and dumped on unsuspecting investors. The beauty of this explanation is there is a beginning, middle (where we supposedly are now) and end-when the sub-primes have all readjusted. It portrays the crisis as a cyclical downturn; more brutal than most but ending in 2-3 years. Unfo

The Takeover of Fannie and Freddie

By [node:field_contributor] / On September 8th, 2008

There are many obvious reasons for the takeover of Fannie and Freddie yesterday by the Federal government. They include shoring up under-capitalized lenders crucial to the economy and the housing market, restoring confidence in the US financial system, and avoiding a 1990s Japanese style economic "flat line" economy. There are less obvious reasons. There has been a long war between completely private mortgage lenders and brokers, such as FM Watch, whose members include firms like GE Capital and GMAC, which have been trying to put the two FMs out of business. This animosity toward the two F