In this paper, I endeavor to show that continuing U.S. government involvement in the housing-finance system will inevitably involve serious losses for taxpayers and that the U.S. housing finance system could function well without GSEs or any other form of government financial support simply by ensuring that only good quality mortgages are allowed to enter the securitization system. 

Canada's government-financing operation looks superior to the one in the United States in candor, as well as credit performance, as it achieves equivalent home ownership levels.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said that the administration wants to bring private capital back to the housing finance market. But without reopening Dodd-Frank and reigning in the Federal Housing Administrations (FHA), winding down government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not be enough to allow the private market to return

Sir, Edward Luce's description of the competing views in the US about both the financial crisis and a supposed "crisis of capitalism" was a caricature, particularly his discussion of the view he ascribed to the Republicans ("America's three views on the crisis", March 19).

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.

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.

"Taking the Government out of Housing Finance: Principles for Reforming the Housing Finance Market" is designed to provide common ground around which a bipartisan agreement may be forged. Join us for the first presentation of this document and a chance to ask questions and participate in a general discussion.

The fat years of the housing bubble lasted from 1999 to 2006 - seven years. The bubble was deflating by the beginning of 2007 and collapsed into the panics of 2007-09. Since then we have been struggling in its deflated wake. If we get the Biblical sum of seven lean years, the housing and related debt markets will bottom in 2013 - not a bad forecast.