.

Interest-rate swaps hit level once thought impossible - Michael Mackenzie  - Signaling a likely arrival of a huge volume of U.S. Treasury securities — an event that tends to narrow the spread between Treasury yields and swap rates — some long-term interest-rate derivatives are being pushed even further into “negative spreads.” Once considered impossible, negative spreads suggest that investors think they are more likely to be paid back by a private counterparty rather than by the government. -  Financial Times

————

A pathetic display - Tim Iacono - It’s not clear who put on the most pathetic display today at the just-concluded committee hearing dubbed “The Role of Federal regulators in the Financial Crisis” - former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan or Rep John Mica (R-Florida) who, along with others, sought to transform the meeting into a discussion of GSE oversight or the lack thereof. - themessthatgreenspanmade

————

Congress Talks Tough to Hedge Funds on Loan Modifications - Paul Jackson - More than a few hedge funds have gone public in recent days with their opposition to proposed loan modifications, which they say would hurt their investment interests — and on Friday, House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), along with a host of other lawmakers, expressed “outrage” at the idea that investors would not back the government’s plan to refinance... - housingwire

————

The unfairness of government-backed mortgage modifications - Peter Vilesv - … Pimco’s Paul McCulley accurately described the basic unfairness of that effort months ago:  It runs against the streak of basic fairness in a lot of Americans. You’re going to provide a handout to the fool. The fool is going to be rewarded and I, the taxpayer, will be put at risk at the margin for that handout to the fool. When all I did was exactly what I was supposed to do. Where is the fairness here? It’s a hard question to answer. … -  Los Angeles Times blog

————

Subprime meltdown culprits -  Low-income borrowers and affordable-housing advocates didn’t cause the credit crisis. The real villains are greedy mortgage brokers, lenders and investors. - LA Times Editorial

————

Ginnie Mae HMBS Providing Liquidity To Reverse Mortgage Industry - John Yedinak - During a time when credit markets are hurting, Ginnie Mae continues to provide liquidity to reverse mortgage lenders.  Last month Cerritos, California based Sun West Mortgage completed an issuance of $120 million in HECM Mortgage Backed Securities (HMBS).  The three HMBS pools comprised of Libor HECM, CMT HECM and Fixed-Rate HECM reverse mortgage products, respectively, … - Reverse Mortgage Daily

————

Freddie Mac portfolio shrank 37.9 percent in Sept -  Freddie Mac’s contracts to purchase mortgages in the future rose by $2.5 billion in September after sliding by $15.4 billion in August. … - Reuters 

————

Let’s Use Fannie to Clean Up the Mess It Made -  The legal authority and funding are already in place. -  PETER J. WALLISON and EDWARD PINTO -  WSJ Opinion

————
Deal Would Make PNC Major Player in Field It Nearly Left - National Mortgage News - By Ted Cornwell - BankInvestmentConsultant.com

————

Why the Government Will Have a Hard Time Being a Foreclosure White Knight - … William Frey, the president of one of the funds, Greenwich Financial Services of Greenwich, Conn., said that he was acting to protect the firm’s investments. “Any investor in mortgage-backed securities has the right to insist that their contract be enforced,” he said. … - Stephen J. Dubner - Freakonomics NY Times

————

Half-Point Rate Cut Seen in Wake of Panic - Smartmoney.com 

————

The Goal of Increasing Home Ownership - If someone has been paying rent month after month, year after year, and has a good credit record, it seems to me there ought to be some way for them to buy a house. - Economist’s View

————

Insuring calamity: MGIC Investment Corp. (MTG) shows us how - Andrew Snyder - Every month, millions of Americans write a check for mortgage insurance. If our mortgages are insured, how did we get into this mess? And what the heck is mortgage… - Today’s Financial News

————

names names - America’s Next Foreclosure Capitals - Matt Woolsey - Forbes