Government housing policies and the toxic mortgages they spawned were the sine qua non of the financial crisis.

The Community Reinvestment Act was a successful piece of legislation; however, the success was incomplete and came with significant costs that have increased over time as the structure of markets has evolved.

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.

It is government's fault for offering a housing finance program without making an effort to maintain underwriting standards.

It seems that Barney Frank conceded that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be abolished only because he was being seriously challenged for reelection.

On September 27, 2006, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 32, an act that would cap California’s greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by 2020. This is the first law in the country establishing a mandatory cap on statewide greenhouse gas emissions. The California law requires aggressive emissions cuts, but...

To avoid the next financial crisis, we must understand what caused the one from which we are now slowly emerging, and take action to avoid the same mistake in the future.

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.