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Toil Index and Tax Credits for Home Ownership

Robert Schiller from Yale gave props to Richard Green of USC for his recommendation that there be a targeted tax credit to encourage homeownership.  Green and Andrew Reschovsky of Wisconsin have studied the data closely are clear that the real benefit of existing tax policy allowing a standard deduction for interest on mortgages is for [...]

Come On! Private Banks Poaching Fannie Mae

subprime mortgage securitization

New Orleans On ESPN’s Sportscenter during the seasons they have a feature called “Come on!” in which they feature unbelievable or bonehead plays.  We need that in other fields of public life and politics.  Reading about the efforts of banks like Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase along with the various [...]

Soft Case for Home Ownership: Forced Savings/Low Interest Rates

New Orleans        Dueling columns in the Times smashed the drunken or doped spin of the Realtors Association trying to claim that the housing market was “back” and in the “Your Money” section made a soft and shrugging case for home ownership:
“Indeed, many people who are buying at the moment are locking in mortgage rates [...]

Homes as Assets and Wealth

New Orleans The New York Times ran the article on the front page announcing that the “era” is over when a family in the United States could reliably expect their personal residences to appreciate and create citizen wealth. Housing Fades as a Means to Build Wealth, Analysts Say was headline on the email version.  This [...]

Act Now to Really Enforce The CRA

Dauphine Island The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) passed in 1977 occupies a lot of space in my book, Citizen Wealth, because it is both arguably the single largest legislative victory achieved by community organizations over the last generation and because it has helped millions purchase homes, one of the most dramatic creators of citizen wealth [...]