Distressed properties are often vacant and in disrepair, and thus sold at significant discounts. As the share of distressed sales grows, home prices fall.

The Tea Party was born out of the disgust many Americans felt early in the financial crisis upon learning that the federal government was even contemplating reducing the principal on some troubled mortgages.

Yes. I don't think it would be appropriate at this point to raise taxes on anyone, certainly not in 2011.

There is a banking adage that if it's growing like a weed, it's a good chance that it's a weed.

The FHA's success provides strong evidence that government can and should play a role in the nation's mortgage finance system. It also demonstrates that although government intervention in the economy during the Great Recession was messy, things would have been a lot messier without it.

I'm a registered Democrat.

Our biggest challenge is to eliminate the popular perception that economists don't have anything useful to say.