Franklin Raines
Franklin Raines
Franklin Delano "Frank" Rainesis an American business executive. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of the Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae, who served as White House budget director under President Bill Clinton. His role leading Fannie Mae has come under scrutiny. He has been called one of the "25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis" according to Time magazine...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth14 January 1949
CountryUnited States of America
Well, it's been great for new home purchasers, particularly first-time purchasers. I think this is a good time to be thinking about buying a home.
We think if the economy remains weak that we could see mortgage rates trail down and we think that we could see rates below seven percent into early next year.
I think if you go beyond a year - if this continues into the system in the out years, I think there is a risk and that - that we could have a negative reaction in the bond market and that will offset the good that was attempted to be done.
So from the housing standpoint, steady as you go, I think, would be the best medicine.
Well, I think as long as people are talking about stimulus, I think the Fed will be thinking about cutting rates because monetary policy is the better way to go because you can turn it on and turn it off.
Well, I think the best form would be to put money directly in the pockets of consumers.
Right now we think that rates will stay low, that you'll be able to get a mortgage below seven percent and that's kicked off a refinance boom that's going to put more money in the pockets of consumers.
People are buying new homes, existing homes at record levels. And that just shows the underlying strength of the economy and the optimism of families that this is still a good time to buy a home even though interest ratesÊ on mortgages have risen substantially,
It creates a contrast between their ideas and ours. We are perfectly happy to be judged by that contrast.
We think we can make progress on upper-income premiums.
We believe our overall fiscal policy is providing an environment where businesses can prosper, but we believe tax cuts should be aimed at people.
Well, you know, we've got a lot of stimulus in the economy already from the tax cut, from the lowered interest rates, and also from the refinancing of mortgages.
We are working on a wide variety of ways to bring to the mortgage finance system cost savings for consumers as well as lenders in the mortgage market,
We are in favor of having the most accurate measure of inflation possible, in order to index those various programs, and we are trying to measure what the real cost-of-living changes are,