One of the challenges to economic recovery in the U.S. has been the glut of houses on the market as a result of the burst housing bubble that caused the great recession in the first place. A robust, job-creating recovery typically relies heavily on the construction sector for a substantial portion of the jobs created–I’ve [...]
Housing
There are several levels on which to judge Thursday’s historic settlement between the country’s most ambitious public prosecutors and its most powerful financial institutions: the help it gives homeowners; its benefit for various political players; and what it may do for the economy. But overall, it’s a clear win for Obama and Democrats, a qualified win for the banks, and a minor, belated victory for homeowners.
It’s been a long slog, but government officials and representatives from major U.S. banks have reportedly come to terms on a settlement that would put an end to federal and state investigations into alleged foreclosure abuses by financial institutions. The White House will announce the official details early this afternoon, but several reports paint a picture of [...]
The never-ending negotiations between the 50 state attorneys general (minus a few big ones) and five major banks over penalties and standards for past, present and future mortgage servicing are finally ending, and some details are beginning to emerge from sources familiar with the deal.
Did you know that you can’t be in favor of fixing the housing market and not be in favor of President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act? That was the underlying message of a conference call with two top Obama advisers on Monday morning, nominally convened to explain and take answers from journalists about the much-touted [...]
If there’s one takeaway from the news that the Federal Housing Finance Agency will sue a dozen big banks for peddling disastrously overvalued mortgage-backed securities in the the run-up to the financial crisis, it’s that the handful of major suits brought against Wall Street since 2008 have never been further from resolution. The FHFA, which [...]
He’s the guy who bucked the Obama administration on a nationwide investigation into foreclosure fraud and got booted from the executive committee of state attorneys general who are working to reach a settlement with banks. The disagreement between Schneiderman, New York’s AG, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, HUD’s Shaun Donovan and Iowa Attorney General Tom [...]
