In 2011, the Government Mortgage Complex accounted for 88 percent of all first-mortgage originations in the United States, with the government also controlling an estimated 90 percent of the student loan market. The government’s growing dominance in the home mortgage and student loan categories is cause for concern, posing a threat to private investors, borrowers, and taxpayers.

Though its capital position improved slightly over last month, the FHA is still firmly in the red, with a current net worth of –$13.45 billion. Particularly alarming is the growth of the Ginnie/USDA division, which has a higher default rate than the FHA.

In case you missed it: in a recent piece, mortgage finance and housing expert Edward Pinto writes that the 30-years mortgage could well be the cause of a new housing bubble.

The federal government has taken over large swaths of consumer lending, most notably the $10 trillion home mortgage and $1 trillion student lending markets. The government's share of new loans for each now approaches 100%.Government monopolies in financial services pose risks to taxpayers as well as borrowers

Reform focused on sustainable lending would have FHA target a projected average claim rate of 5 per 100 insured loans under normal circumstances and 10 per 100 insured loans under stress circumstances.  This rate is about five times the normal default level for prime loans and about half the FHA's traditional default level under normal circumstances.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the most common way U.S. buyers finance a home purchase, isn’t the ideal instrument its supporters claim it to be.

Debt of non-budget government agencies is not counted officially as "government debt," which is harmful to American Taxpayers.

The Federal Reserve has recently begun discussing strategies for reducing its approximately $1.2 trillion of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) acquired from Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae during the financial crisis.