From James Kwak.

the worrying thing is that the intellectual, regulatory, and political climate seems to be basically the same as it was in 2004: no one wants to [do] anything that might be construed as hurting the economy, and no one wants to offend the housing industry.

Pointer from Mark Thoma.

I get the same impression. The housing lobby is back and is running the show again. Indeed, Ed Pinto writes,

By caving in to the demands of the lobbies representing the Government Mortgage Complex, both the CFPB and the six agencies are committing a grievous error. Calling QMs a prime loan and making QM = QRM gives risky loans an imprimatur they do not deserve. This is a repeat of the false comfort Fannie and Freddie gave to the definition of a prime loan. As we now know there was little that was prime in most of their prime loans.

Have a nice day.