14 Jan 2010

Paperwork Reduction Act
How to improve implementation of the law

by Richard Belzer

in Paperwork Burdens

On October 28, 2009, the Office of Management and Budget solicited comments on its implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act. The purpose of the PRA is to minimize burdens on the public resulting from the federal government's information requests.

Neutral Source managing editor Richard Belzer submitted comments on his own behalf. These comments eventually will be uploaded by OMB to Regulations.Gov, the Federal government's web portal for all regulatory matters. (Clicking on the link above will reveal a fundamental weakness of the web portal: Unless the agency chooses to include information identifying the name and organizational affiliation of the submitter, there is no way to find any specific comment without opening them all.)

In response to numerous requests, a copy of these comment is posted to the Library.

4 Jul 2009

Causes of Foreclosure:
Easy money

by Richard Belzer

in Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy

The collapse of the housing bubble, with 20% to 50% reductions in home values across wide swaths of the country, has led to an extraordinary high rate of foreclosures. The federal government has responded with various programs to "help people stay in their homes."  These programs have one or two typical features: (1) lower interest rates, (2) forgiveness of some portion of the loan principal, (3) forbearance of nonpayment for some period of time, or some combination thereof.

These remedies have in common a similar diagnosis: foreclosures are rising because some aspect of the mortgage changed such that borrowers suddenly found themselves unable to afford the payments. Typically, what is presumed to have changed is that a low "teaser" rate ended, and the house was no longer affordable when the interest rate reset to market levels.

New research raises doubt about that diagnosis.