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Should Obama name FDIC's Bair as a Special Advisor for Mortgage Policy?

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Most investors know that there's a difference between Democratic Party leadership and Republican Party leadership, as it relates to U.S. fiscal and economic policy.

However, although more economically-cohesive than the Democratic Party, the Republican Party is not monolithic, and there's perhaps no better example of these often nuanced differences in policy than the positions on home mortgage assistance policy held by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair.

Paulson has been slow on payment relief

Although he has shown support for mortgage refinance programs aimed at achieving lower payments - - 'payment relief' in Washingtonspeak - - Paulson has steered clear of policies that would mandate that banks unilaterally lower principals, or interest rates, preferring to stick with a voluntary approach, whereby banks basically negotiate with borrowers on a case-by-case basis.

That traditional Republican response, economist David H. Wang said, "has prevented mortgage refinancings from occurring for those who don't truly need them," but it also has increased the at-risk mortgage pool, delaying the housing sector's recovery.

A solution to the above, in Wang's view? Adopt the FDIC plan backed by Bair, whereby the Treasury would use its funds to speed refinancings for at-risk homeowners in owner-occupied homes. Wang agreed with Bair that the FDIC plan could prevent 1.5 million foreclosures by the end of 2009.

"It could prevent even more, perhaps as many as 1.8-2 million foreclosures, and until the U.S. ends these waves of foreclosures, very little good news will occur from a GDP standpoint, which is why Bair's plan should be enacted," Wang said. "I also think President-elect Obama should appoint her to a Special Advisor post in the Obama Administration, solving the home foreclosure problem is that critical to the nation's economic health."


Bair, whose five-year FDIC chairmanship ends in June 2011, "would fit-in well with President-elect Obama's goal of a bipartisan cabinet and expert advisor circle," so says economist Richard Felson.

"She clearly has an Obama-esque view of policy, whereas Paulson has a more traditional outlook, and she was well ahead of the pack regarding the problem presented by subprime loans, so Obama would be wise to include her as a key member of his housing team," Felson said. "She's done the math and knows that there are no cost-free solutions to housing sector stabilization."

Housing Sector / Economic Analysis: As the great Washington lobbyist and political operative Martin Dunleavy once said, "There's nothing more delightful than a Republican who occasionally acts like a Democrat, and vice-versa." FDIC's Bair is in that mold, so President-elect Obama should put her in his inner circle, pronto.

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Last updated: July 04, 2009: 08:33 AM

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