Last month House Republicans passed legislation which would tie interest rates on student loans to US Treasury notes, with a cap at 8.5%. This would have the effect of introducing at least some element of market forces to the student loan market. Democrats in the Senate have a plan, not yet voted on, which would…
Former Senator Dorgan Writes Sequel To Novel Which Cast Oil Speculators As Terrorists
Since retiring from the US Senate, Byron Dorgan has been writing fiction. Or, given that his previous non-fiction books were ghost written, paying someone to write it for him. His first fiction novel, Blowout, was a depressing assemblage of left-wing conspiracy theories about the energy industry, featuring evil hedge fund managers who try to derail…
USDA Expands Subprime Loan Program In Western North Dakota
Western North Dakota has a housing shortage driving spiking prices. There’s no doubt that is creating headaches for those trying to find a place to lead, but are government-backed subprime loans really the answer? According to Jasper Schneider, the USDA’s Director of Rural Development here in North Dakota, they are. Why, they can even provide…
Subprime Auto Loans Were Up 18% In 2012
Yesterday we got news that the Obama administration is pushing banks to make subprime home loans again. Today comes word that in 2012, subprime auto loans were up 18%: The Fed’s program, while aimed at bolstering the U.S. housing and labor markets, has also steered billions of dollars into riskier, more speculative corners of the…
Obama Pushing Banks To Make Subprime Loans Again
“Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit,” reads the Washington Post headline. Because it worked out so well the last time we did that. The Obama administration is engaged in a broad push to make more home loans available to people with weaker credit, an effort that officials say…
Feds File Suit Against Agency That Downgraded US Credit Rating
Last year Standard & Poor made headlines by downgrading the US credit limit. The Obama administration wasn’t happy, and now the federal government is suing claiming that the company didn’t property rate mortgage bonds during the subprime housing loan bubble: WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) — The U.S. government is accusing the debt rating agency Standard & Poor’s…
Grand Forks Herald: Please Pay No Attention To The Student Loan Bubble
When the higher education/student loan bubble pops, the folks at the Grand Forks Herald should be indicted (figuratively, not literally) as co-conspirators. Because despite a report illustrating the bubble perfectly, despite a report in their own paper showing that student loan debt has exploded even as the degrees students are purchasing have fallen in power,…
Wells Fargo CEO: Get The Government Out Of The Home Mortgage Business
“If it wasn’t for Fannie and Freddie, [the mortgage crisis] would have been a small problem,” Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich told CNBC today. “Fannie and Freddie and other government agencies guaranteed 70 percent of those mortgages.” He’s right, of course, though Fannie and Freddie’s market penetration when far beyond that. At the time of…
Bill Would Allow State Of North Dakota To Get Into The Wholesale Mortgage Business
North Dakota is unique among the states in having a state-run bank. Now, per a bill coming out of the Industry, Business and Labor Committee (at the request of the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency), the state wants to be a mortgage wholesaler too. Here’s the language from the bill, which is SB2079: The business…