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Failures in the regulation of large complex financial institutions played an important role in the financial crisis.

As we enter the fall of 2011, three years after the Lehman Brothers crisis, Europe and the United States are teetering on the brink of another, potentially more serious, systemic crisis.

In considering whether the government should back housing finance, the first consideration this committee should have in mind is whether it would be good policy at this time to add to the U.S. government’s financial obligations.

Dodd-Frank overall is a poorly drafted statute that drastically expands the power of the federal government, creates new bureaucracies staffed with thousands, and does little to help the struggling American citizen.

For many years, community financial institutions have been denied fair and equal access to the secondary market. Banks prosper by making prudent loans with an adequate return and maintaining a reasonable cost structure. Today 97 percent of our banks are community banks and they are increasingly finding this business model under siege.

The overall direction of the Commission majority's report was determined before the Commission started its work. Throughout its 18 month life, the Commission focused only on issues that the chairman wanted to cover, was more interested in publicity than in a thorough investigation, and never paid serious attention to other views. It was not in any sense an objective or thorough study, did not produce any facts or data that could aid scholars in the future.

The variety of international experience suggests that there is every reason to think broadly and openly about the possibilities for developing a better, post-GSE U.S. housing finance system for the future.