Posted on 08/30/2007 11:42:08 AM PDT by Hydroshock
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The private sector and Congress should create new, affordable mortgage products that would help some homeowners refinance their mortgages and keep their homes, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested in a letter released Wednesday.
In the letter to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Bernanke repeated that the Fed is closely monitoring markets and stands ready to act if needed. The Fed issued a statement with almost identical wording on Aug. 17 after it cut the discount lending rate to 5.75%. The letter from Bernanke was dated Aug. 27 and released by Schumer's office on Wednesday. Calling it a "bullish" letter, bond market strategist Tony Crescenzi of Miller Tabak said Bernanke was "very sympathetic to concerns expressed quite strongly in the financial markets of late." "If this tone is repeated on Friday, the conclusion will be that the Fed will lower the fed funds rate" by the Sept. 18 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, Crescenzi said. Bernanke is scheduled to give a speech on housing and housing finance on Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
My reading of the tea leafs is that the FED is looking for any reason under the sun no to raise rates.
As long as they aren’t expecting me to pay higher taxes to pay for it, that’s fine. </sarc>
How about a mortgage with rates tied to the value of baseball cards?
Wow...some Americans' view of the proper role of government sure has changed from the view of the Founders'...indeed from the view of most Americans before FDR and the rise of the New Deal welfare state...the federal government should now be a mortgage lender?
the “and Congress” part scares the daylights out of me.
Yes
Ya’ Think!!!!
the federal government should now be a mortgage lender?
Uh, VA mortgages?
http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_Bill_Info/history.htm
>> Wasn’t the cause of this problem all of the “new, affordable mortgage products”. Too many people could “afford” houses (at least for the first month) so people were bidding up the prices causing the bubble.
Exactly.
And the best way to “create” “affordable housing” is for the government to keep its hands off, and allow housing prices to come back down to earth.
Will there be pain for some? Yep. But if the gov’t stays out and lets the market work, those who exercised poor judgment will suffer primarily, as it should be.
Yeah he is, but if Ben is counting on the US Congress to do something intelligent, he can forget it. Ben cut the rate, Congress is not gonna be a help.
I can’t believe the Fed is saying that the Congress should bail out people that made bad investment decisions. “New, affordable products” is code for bailout when it’s Congress that is supposed to work it out with industry.
becareful what you wish for - recent “new” mortgage products (no interest loans and other mix-variables) are what got some into this mess.
in three years Dems will be investigating the market that responded to these words.
I’m thinking a Pay Per View “Bank Aid” concert would be just as effective.
By all the gods in the heavens, let’s NOT get government any more involved in the mortgage business.
HUD has to be the worse, most bureaucratic, inefficient, ineffective, useless, misguided, arrogant, wasteful branch of any government anywhere. Any more money or responsibility given to HUD should be a crime.
New mortgage products to be developed partially by the Congress? Those are the yabos who’ve generated a nice multi-trillion dollar deficit for the federal government and, in turn, us. Yeah, great idea, let’s create some new mortgage products. Good Lord, that’s how we got into this mess in the first place
Everyone ,in the future,has to put down at least a 10-percent down payment in order to qualify for a loan.
Is that too strict?
HUD is MUD. What a mess, and run by fools.
Simple Question. Who owns the Federal Reserve and are they really accountable to anyone??
>> I’m thinking a Pay Per View “Bank Aid” concert would be just as effective.
(sigh)
We’re going to be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Let’s just create a new “HousingAid” entitlement program.
As soon as you graduate high school, the Government gives you a cool loft apartment in the downtown “warehouse” district, so you can party with your friends, until you get married (and/or have kids, if you’re heterosexual).
Then, you move into a 3 BR 2 BA home in the ‘burbs — a gift (sorry, “entitlement”) from HousingAid. Not all will have home theater rooms, mind you, but the ones that don’t will have three-car garages. We Promise. After all, because you’re alive in America, you deserve it.
As the kids and your income (if you’re working, which is optional) grow, soon you’ll be able to choose from a McMansion or a somewhat smaller Waterfront Property. IF you’re working, this will happen once you reach the 82% tax bracket.
Empty nest? Sorry, you’ll have to move out of your McMansion when you reach Medicare age, but no worries — you’ll get a GoldenYears RV to carry you around in style ‘til the day you die, at which time it’ll convert to a FEMA RV for anyone caught outside in a thunderstorm.
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