November 19, 2011

Making Homes Affordable Makes Others Poor

By John Sohne
Imagine that you are in the business of lending money.  At one time, the business model was simple; money was lent to people who had a high probability of repaying it.  The rules were then changed by federal government in the interest of "fairness," with laws passed such as the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and federal agencies like Housing & Urban Development (HUD) activated.  To stay in business, you must follow the government's dictates.   Then the government changes the rules again by changing the percentage of loans that go to certain types of borrowers in the interest of "fairness."  Just asking you to increase loans to people with poor credit ratings isn't enough.  Community activist groups like ACORN threaten to sue you under the CRA if you don't make enough loans, or if you don't loan to the "right" people, or if you make it too hard to get a loan.  Fast-forward ten years. Now the DOJ is suing you for making too many loans,...(Read Full Article)