In the latest issue of The New Yorker, James Surowiecki weighs in on something TWI wrote about recently: The need for a new — and bolder — foreclosure strategy. Foreclosures continue to outpace loan modifications, even as the Obama administration presses the lending industry to do More…
On Monday, Peter Wallison of the American Enterprise Institute slams the proposal for a Financial Products Safety Commission, using a Washington Post op-ed to call it elitist and contend it would limit financial choices to sophisticated consumers.
Are consumers “protected” when they are denied the opportunity to buy products
There’s a lot of buzz already about New York Times economic reporter Edmund L. Andrews’ account of his personal financial crisis in “Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown.” Mainly it’s because more than a few financial blogs regularly linked to Andrews’ coverage of the financial crisis. The More…
Staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission are recommending that civil securities fraud charges be filed against Angelo Mozilo, the once high-flying head of subprime lender Countywide Financial. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which explained that Mozilo has been sent a Wells notice, a More…
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke drew some headlines Tuesday when he said in a speech that it’s time to overhaul the nation’s financial regulatory system, and to appoint a powerful new regulator to oversee powerful financial institutions.
It’s something housing and community advocates also have been pushing — especially More…
Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism has a great take on a story making the rounds on the Internet today, a New York Times piece on former Countrywide Financial executives cashing in on distressed mortgages. Obviously, this is very rich, considering Countrywide once stood as the nation’s largest subprime More…
Andrew Sullivan takes a shot at the Obama administration’s plan to help homeowners, noting that he’s diligently paid three mortgages and now is expected to bail out people who gave in to “greed, wishful thinking, and recklessness.” His comments follow on the heels of the now-famous Rick Santelli More…
Mortgage lenders aren’t selling subprime loans much anymore, but apparently the credit rating agencies that certified them as safe and profitable investments are back at it, this time killing a book critical of, well, a ratings agency.
The tale comes from Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture, who had More…
Floyd Norris of The New York Times picks up on President George W. Bush’s myopic views of the nation’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, expressed as part of that valedictory news conference Monday. Personally, I was struck by Bush’s flippant comment that he came in during More…
I feel compelled to link to The Onion’s hilarious lede today.
From its awesome bit of fake news, entitled, “Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress”:
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