Articles by David C. John

Obama Cuts FHA Fees, Taxpayer Bailout Looms

David C. John | March 07, 2012

President Obama has announced that he ordered the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to cut in half the fee paid by homeowners whose mortgages the agency… Read More

Geithner Draws Wrong Dodd-Frank Lessons and Forgets Fannie Mae

David C. John | March 05, 2012

There were plenty of lessons to learn after the financial crisis of 2008. Unfortunately, neither Congress nor the Obama Administration was willing to take the… Read More

Economy

Mortgage Settlement Sounds Better for Homeowners Than It Is

David C. John | February 10, 2012

From the hype surrounding the newly announced $26 billion settlement over abusive foreclosure and mortgage servicing practices, one might think that it would single-handedly solve… Read More

SEC Charges Reinforce Case for Eliminating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

David C. John | December 16, 2011

The misguided federal policy to concentrate the U.S. mortgage finance industry in two huge government-sponsored entities was underscored again this morning when the Securities and… Read More

10 Years After Enron, Time to Throw Out Sarbanes–Oxley’s Section 404

David C. John | December 02, 2011

Exactly 10 years ago today, the Enron Corporation filed for bankruptcy after it was revealed that it had blatantly falsified its earnings statements for many… Read More

Economy

First-time Homebuyers Tax Credit Shows Government Can’t Fix Housing

David C. John | November 14, 2011

Government programs cannot stop the decline in housing prices. The latest evidence of this comes from a study of first-time homebuyers who took advantage of… Read More

Economy

Latest Obama Mortgage Refinance Plan Another Dud

David C. John | October 25, 2011

Undeterred by the underperformance of several previous efforts at mortgage refinancing, the Obama Administration has announced yet another plan designed to refinance the “underwater” mortgages… Read More

Proposed Mortgage Refinance Plan Would Help Only a Few

David C. John | October 19, 2011

They are at it again. Despite numerous unsuccessful tries to develop a government-facilitated plan to refinance problem mortgages, another one appears to be on the… Read More

News

Social Security Needs to Be Fixed, Says Senate Finance Minority, but How?

David C. John | October 18, 2011

Senate Finance Committee Republicans have some good advice for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (sometimes known as the super committee): Fix Social Security… Read More

Economy

Look Before You Regulate: Measuring the Costs of Financial Rules

David C. John | September 28, 2011

You would think that any regulation that could affect a major part of the economy and cost industry and/or consumers millions of dollars to comply… Read More