Underwriting for a career choice

Part of the dramatic impact of the government dithering about trying to correct the market disruption caused by government encouragement of bad lending, is the over-correction of regulations to prevent a recurrence. Since late 2006 over 350 mortgage lenders have gone out of business. That's a lot of employees, many of them skilled, most still unemployed in their former occupations. In the remaining lenders the folks known as underwriters are now reduced to clerks. Lenders are so frightened of making a mistake they have almost entirely abandoned the underwriting process. They still call it underwriting, but what it really is, is making sure that loan applications conform exactly to the conditions stipulated by machine programs generated by Fannie and Freddie. No decisions at all. Couple that with the new appraisal guidelines which obviate hiring an appraiser with known ability in deference to a government requirement that they be appointed by "lot" by some independent agency and the whole business of approving loans becomes almost entirely removed from intelligent weighing of risks and disadvantages many, many deserving applicants. If two years from now you meet someone with two years experience as a mortgage underwriter with a major prime lender, they will have the skill set equivalent of someone taking inventory in a big box retailer.
At a time when glut of homes on the market is huge and growing, due to an increase in foreclosure activity, and prices are in many cases beginning to look favorable to some buyers, wouldn't it be nice if it were possible to get loans for these folks? It would be nice. The mortgage market is tight. There are programs for the low end applicants with government supported or subsidized options, but for the deserving people who have demonstrated some prudence in their behavior, loans are tough.
Every move the government has made has been a mistake. Every intervention in private business has been a disaster. Tax dollars have been used to buy GM for the UAW and hosed the bondholders who had a contractual right abrogated. Cash for clunkers is using tax dollars as a gift to some a subsidy to others and a debt for all the rest of us. The health care "crisis" which exists only in the heads of politicians seeking to buy a constituency is destined to cost over a trillion dollars to insure ? If I understand correctly there are approximately 46 million uninsured. Many are illegal aliens, many choose not to buy insurance. For the remainder, we could afford to buy each of them their own hospital for a trillion dollars.
As this is written Obama is in Indiana to give over 2 billion dollars in grants for the purpose of building electric motors and batteries for "green" cars which no one wants to buy. Again buying a constituency. Obama doesn't have two billion dollars, neither does the government and it isn't his job to take it from us and give it to someone else.
The fiscally responsible crowds showing up at Town Hall meetings are being vilified by the White House as a bunch of nuts. What they really are is a bunch of scared and disillusioned patriots. The nuts the White House remembers are from the Acorn family and were showing up for entirely different purposes, mostly selfish.
As usual
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