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At this event, Thomas White and Charlie S. Wilkins, drawing on their long involvement in multifamily finance, will present their prescription for the future of multifamily housing finance reform, and John C. Weicher and Thomas Watts will draw from their own deep wells of experience to comment on the presentation.

The Occupy Wall Street phenomenon is perfectly understandable if we recognize it as an artifact of the conventional narrative about the financial crisis—that it was caused by Wall Street greed and insufficient regulation. If the demonstrators new the truth—that the government's housing policy caused the financial crisis and the subsequent recession—they would be on the Capitol steps.

Efforts to blame the banks for the financial crisis are failing because they are not supported by data. The key fact is that, by 2008, before the crisis, half of the 54 million mortgages in the U.S. financial system were subprime and other low-quality mortgages.

When the bubble deflated in 2007, an unprecedented number of weak mortgages went into default - those that were held or guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie, and those that had been securitized by Wall Street. This drove down housing prices and threw Fannie and Freddie into insolvency. 

In less than twenty-five years, government “affordable housing” and other housing policies have turned a healthy market into a financial ruin. Until Fannie and Freddie’s market dominance and the government’s role in the housing finance system are substantially reduced or eliminated, the United States will continue to have an inferior and unstable housing market.

FHA Watch, a new monthly online publication, will focus on the government’s 100 percent taxpayer-backed Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage guarantee program and the risks it poses for taxpayers, families, and communities. 

It's always painful to take on the myths and ideological narratives of the left. The pundits of the liberal (excuse me, "progressive") media make a pretense of listening to reason, but when their views are challenged, they become abusive.