“Six out of seven dwarves are not Happy.” Much of life is based on probability, and/or a gamble. For example, I can’t believe that I […]
Politics, policy, and a market trying to recalibrate after a burst of volatility were the names of the game this week. President Trump’s announcement that he intends to nominate former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chair was the largest headline. While Warsh is a known quantity with prior Fed experience and deep ties to Wall Street, the nomination introduced renewed debate about Fed independence, especially as the Supreme Court considers a case that…
There’s a reason conversations about the Innovation Investment Fee (IIF) often start with confusion rather than conviction. One of the most common, and most honest, things I hear from executives is this: “I don’t really understand what MISMO does, let alone why I should care enough to pay.” That observation sits at the root of the challenge. When standards work well, they’re invisible. They don’t show up in sales meetings or earnings calls. They don’t have a logo on the borrower experience….
I grew up in Queens after immigrating to the United States from India at the age of eight. Queens is a place where hundreds of languages are spoken, where people arrive from all over the world, learn a new language, adopt a new culture, and work relentlessly to build a better life. Watching that happen up close shaped how I think about opportunity, capitalism, and the responsibility that comes with building systems that either unlock progress or quietly prevent it. You see very early that…
Every so often, the mortgage industry finds itself in a moment where politics, policy, and markets collide loudly and all at once. This past week was one of those moments. Headlines swirled around the nomination of potential new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, debates about Fed independence resurfaced, and Washington once again provided no shortage of theater. It made for compelling commentary, but beneath the noise, the actual drivers of interest rates and housing finance have barely…
“Rules? In a knife fight? No rules! ” Sounds sensible, at least to Butch Cassidy and his opponent. Donald Trump’s Fed nominee sounds sensible (lots below), but he and his family suing the IRS and others for $10 billion not so much. There’s a lot of sensible thinking going on out there in our biz. Yesterday in the Thought Leadership section, attorney Mitch Kider addressed the “Rule of Law” and what he believes is important to the industry. In a new article featured in Chrisman Commentary’s…
“Rules? In a knife fight? No rules!” Sounds sensible, at least to Butch Cassidy and his opponent. Donald Trump’s Fed nominee sounds sensible (lots below), […]
Fans of MASH know that Alan Alda turned 90 yesterday, and the remaining actors from the show joined him on the beach . When you reach a certain age you don’t care about the employment picture. Amazon laying off another 16,000, as announced this week, won’t help anyone’s “the economy is doing great” argument. As economist Elliot Eisenberg points out, “The most disturbing piece of information from last week’s income data is the confirmation of a complete lack of income growth over the past 12…
Fans of MASH know that Alan Alda turned 90 yesterday, and the remaining actors from the show joined him on the beach. When you reach […]
As we kick off the New Year, affordability remains one of the biggest challenges facing the mortgage industry and the broader housing market. It continues to shape conversations among lenders, policymakers, and consumers alike. Affordability Is Not a Rate Problem Ask most people what’s wrong with housing affordability, and the answer comes quickly: rates are too high. It’s an easy diagnosis, clean and intuitive, and it fits neatly into headlines and political talking points. But it’s also…
