Banking Law

Last month, Elizabeth Warren, Harvard law professor and head of the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) that looks over the shoulder of the Treasury Department on its various bailout programs, was busy undermining the Treasury's PPIP. According to Housing Wire's Linda Lowell, this month Warren is "ralfing" all over TALF. Lowell believes that Warren has a "vendetta" going against TALF, a vendetta that Lowell believes is completely unjustified.

Lowell accuses Warren and the COP of either basic intellectual dishonesty or basic ignorance, and I'm not certain which is her most damning accusation. Although it's not a read for the ADD sufferer, it's one of the most complete and devastating "fiskings" of a bureaucrat's misleading pronouncements that I've seen since the late Tanta at Calculated Risk was taking apart ignorant bloviators in the political arena and main stream media. Tanta was, and Lowell is, a veteran of the mortgage banking game, and the knowledge of the subject matter certainly shows. By the end of the piece, Warren and her cohorts come off as both purveyors of mendacity and mortgage banking and securitization idiots. It's well worth a read, whether or not you're a "wonk" or an "ubernerd."

I wonder what Warren thinks of Jeb Hensarling's COP hearing on the alleged disparate treatment of bond holders in the General Motors bailout? Hensarling accuses the Obama administration of using TARP "to promote a social agenda and to reward the allies of the administration. This hearing will be a venue for seeking answers to such important questions.? Actually, Hensarling, a Republican congressman from Dallas, alleges that "many believe" TARP is being used for that purpose. Who are the "many" and where did they publicly state that "belief"? Lowell derides similar language used by Warren to undermine TALF. I'm sure Lowell would be just as critical of such fuzziness of language from the Republican side of the aisle.

On the personal ranting front, my post from Sunday night elicited a reach out today from Barb Rehm, Editor-in-Chief of American Banker. Barb's kind words prodded me to take my thumb out of my mouth and return to the word of adults, at least as far as American Banker is concerned. Well, Barb's graciousness certainly played a prominent role, although as big a role was played by the fact that in the course of the back-and-forth between Barb and me, I recalled that I had a December-to-May crush on BankThink's Emily Flitter and I certainly didn't want to endanger THAT!

National Mortgage News still gets rowed to the middle of the lake and a bullet to the back of the head. Thus, it's a win-win for all concerned.