Slideshow

'You don’t have to like the GSEs': Comments of the week

August 29, 2019 9:30 PM

Readers react to jilted GSE legacy shareholders and a proposal making it harder to cite disparate impact, criticize Democrats asking the CFPB to stop its payday rule revamp and more.

On legacy GSE shareholders feeling caught in a 'stickup' by the Treasury Department's bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

"It’s a theft of private property. You don’t have to like the GSEs. However, most Americans don’t realize that without Fannie and Freddie, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage would not be available.”

Related: GSE bailout was really a stickup

Another reader responds to jilted legacy shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

"The arguments here are cherry-picked and spun to rewrite the ugly history of the financial crisis and in particular, what was happening at/to the GSEs."

Related: GSE bailout was really a stickup

Signage stands outside the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) headquarters in Washington, D.C. Photographer:

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

On whether Trump administration officials have weakened the ability to allege discrimination in housing under a new proposal that makes it harder for consumers to prove disparate impact:

"Major American cities and metro areas have become third world-like before our eyes. Let's just double down on whatever we've been doing up until now. Seems wise.”

Related: Trump administration takes giant step backward on racial equality

Ben Carson, secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), speaks during the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, June 11, 2019. The summit is dedicated to promoting foreign direct investment in the United States. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Another reader responds to a debate over the Department of Housing and Urban Development's proposal requiring more steps for consumers to prove disparate impact:

"The fact that this goes all the way back to the Nixon administration and data shows things haven't changed might mean disparate impact/unintentional discrimination isn't the real problem."

Related: Trump administration takes giant step backward on racial equality

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley

On an op-ed by New York Fed President Bill Dudley saying President Trump's re-election would present 'a threat' to the economy and the Fed's independence:

"Dudley’s remarks about using the Fed to influence an election are absolutely stunning. With one article, he has done for the Fed what Comey et al did for the FBI and that is totally blow its credibility."

Related: The Fed shouldn't enable Donald Trump: Bill Dudley

Signage is displayed inside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, March 4, 2019. House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters will hold a hearing this week on the semi-annual review of the CFPB. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

On more than 100 House Democrats asking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to reconsider overhauling its 2017 payday rule:

"The CFPB rule relied heavily on a single study of one payday lender in five states . . . How on earth does an agency propose a rule based on a single, limited scope study?"

Related: House Democrats ask CFPB to abandon payday rule overhaul

House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters

Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California and chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, listens during a hearing with Tim Sloan, president and chief executive officer of Wells Fargo & Co., not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, March 12, 2019. Wells Fargo & Co. stock is underperforming Tuesday pre-market as Sloan prepares to appear before a House committee focused on what it's calling a "pattern of consumer abuses." Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Another reader responds to democrats, led by House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, asking the CFPB to stop its revamp of the 2017 payday rule:

"Waters is again uninformed and should spend less time attacking pro-business deregulation that she cannot understand."

Related: House Democrats ask CFPB to abandon payday rule overhaul