Congressman Scott Garrett appeared on CNBC's The Call with Larry Kudlow and Melissa Francis to talk about his proposal to raise the downpayment requirement on FHA loans. Former Hud Official and mortgage industry consultant Howard Glazer took all 3 on defending the current FHA setup:
Currently, you can get FHA loans with 3.5% down. Garrett is proposing to raise the downpayment to 5%. Glazer tried to compare the performance of FHA to that of private mortage companies. He said that raising the downpayment wouldn't lower the risk, it would just close the window on people who could get loans that the private market isn't serving. At times, it seemed like Larry Kudlow's head was going to explode and he actually said he was being discriminated against because he said he would have to put 20% down.
Governor Corzine appeared on CNBC "Squawk Box" yesterday. He was apparently a little late because of being stuck in traffic, but joined in time for a wide ranging interview. On whether more money for the states is the answer:
"I don't think we need a federal bailout in the circumstances that I see. I do think that we need the political courage to make the decisions to adjust our spending and, if necessary, raise revenues," said Corzine. He said a bunch of states are doing that but that "it's not necessarily translating into high poll numbers."
On incumbency not being an asset now:
"Generally, political debates are: Don't raise taxes; if you raise taxes, you're dead," he said. "The promises that have been made, not just by one generation, but by a lot of generations of political leadership, both parties by the way - this is not one party or the other, but both parties - have led to a situation where you have these unfunded liabilities. And we're not like the federal government. There's no Federal Reserve there to start printing money or buying back debt, which they're going to have to do to get us through $30 billion 10-year Treasury auctions back to back."
Captiol Quickies notes that this is the Governor's 12th time appearing on CNBC's "Squawk Box" in a year-plus, and sixth of 2009.
