Category: Transparency

Buried in Bias

Post author By Southwest Public Policy Institute
Post date December 12, 2025
No Comments on Buried in Bias

The Center for Responsible Lending’s “Buried in Debt” report fails as policy analysis.

Tags Alternative Financial Services, Amortization Schedules, Annual Percentage Rate (APR), Banking Fees, Bolen Elliehausen Miller Study, Buried In Debt Report, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), consumer choice, Consumer Credit Policy, Consumer Lending Research, Consumer Welfare, Cost Of Living Crisis, credit access, Credit Bureau Data, Credit Denial Rates, Credit Market Regulation, Credit Rationing, Credit Stacking, Credit Supply Constraints, Deep-Subprime Borrowers, Difference-In-Differences Analysis, Economic Opportunity, Evidence-Based Policymaking, Financial Hardship, financial inclusion, Financial Literacy, financial regulation, Financial Services Policy, Free Market Finance, Housing Cost Burden, Income Volatility, Interest Rate Caps, Loan Availability, Loan Disclosures, Market Distortion, Mortgage Finance, No Loan For You, No Loan For You!, Overdraft Fees, Payday Lending, Poverty And Inequality, Price Controls, Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Harm, Risk-Based Pricing, Selection Bias, Small-Dollar Credit Research, Small-Dollar Loans, Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI), Subprime Borrowers, Substitute Financial Products, Survivorship Bias, Too!, Total Cost Of Credit, Usury Laws

Culture Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Education Freedom and Reform Government Regulation Life Markets and Finance Political Thought Poverty & Welfare Poverty and Inequality Progressivism Public Opinion Top Issues Transparency Updates

The Need to Modernize Financial Literacy in Uncertain Economic Times

Post author By Lucas J. Parker
Post date December 6, 2025
No Comments on The Need to Modernize Financial Literacy in Uncertain Economic Times

A modernized financial-literacy framework must equip students with practical, real-world tools to navigate an increasingly complex and often predatory consumer-finance landscape.

Tags Amortization Schedules, Annual Percentage Rate (APR), Consumer Finance, Consumer Protection, Credit Market Instruction, Credit Policy Impacts, Credit Scoring Education, Credit-Market Case Studies, Debt Management Education, Decision-Making Skills, Economic Mobility, Financial Curriculum Redesign, Financial Education Reform, Financial Independence For Students, Financial Literacy, Financial Technology (Fintech) Education, High School Curriculum Modernization, High-Cost Credit Products, Household Debt Burden, Industry Practitioner Insights, Lending Transparency, Loan Scenarios, Long-Term Mortgage Misalignment, Mortgage Interest Accrual, Opportunity Cost Understanding, Payday Loan Risks, Predatory Lending Awareness, Real-World Financial Skills, Regulatory Environment, Risk Assessment Training, Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI), Student Financial Outcomes, Youth Financial Preparedness

Conservatism Culture Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Government Regulation Government Spending Infrastructure & Technology Markets and Finance Political Thought Poverty & Welfare Poverty and Inequality Progressivism Public Opinion Top Issues Transparency Updates

The Death Knell for Elizabeth Warren’s CFPB

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date November 19, 2025
No Comments on The Death Knell for Elizabeth Warren’s CFPB

Trump’s CFPB reset offers hope for reform, but state attorneys general are already building a fragmented and punitive new regulatory regime

Conservatism Culture Debt Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Government Regulation Housing Infrastructure & Technology Life Markets and Finance Political Thought Poverty & Welfare Poverty and Inequality Public Opinion Reports Top Issues Transparency Updates

Report: The Case Against 50-Year Mortgages

Post author By Southwest Public Policy Institute
Post date November 8, 2025
2 Comments on Report: The Case Against 50-Year Mortgages

How will Washington’s housing “fix” entrench debt, inflate prices, and undermine the American Dream?

Tags 50-Year Mortgage, Abrazos Homes, Affordable Housing, Annual Percentage Rate (APR), Bill Pulte, Building Permits, Central Planning, Construction Costs, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Donald Trump, Economic Policy, Fannie Mae, Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Federal Reserve, financial regulation, Freddie Mac, Government Subsidies, Home Builders, Homeownership, Housing Affordability, Housing Policy, Housing Supply, Immigration Policy, Inflation, Jerome Powell, Mackenzie Bishop, Mortgage Market, Mortgage Rates, Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS), Patrick M. Brenner, Property Taxes, Real Estate Market, Red Tape, Skilled Trades, Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI), Sticky Inflation, Tariffs, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Truth in Lending Act (TILA), Zoning Reform

Conservatism Culture Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Government Regulation Housing Life Markets and Finance Political Thought Poverty & Welfare Poverty and Inequality Public Opinion Top Issues Transparency Updates

The Wall Street Journal: The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date November 8, 2025
1 Comment on The Wall Street Journal: The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages

Subsidized debt drives up prices, sucks up wealth, and makes it hard for millennials to buy homes.

Tags 30-Year Mortgage, 50-Year Mortgage, American Dream, Amortization, Annual Percentage Rate (APR), Central Planning, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Economic Policy, Fannie Mae, Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Federal Reserve, financial regulation, Freddie Mac, GI Bill, Government Subsidies, Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), Homeownership, Housing Affordability, Housing Finance, Housing Policy, Housing Prices, Inflation, Lending Reform, Millennials, Mortgage Interest, Mortgage Rates, Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS), Patrick M. Brenner, Real Estate Market, Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Truth in Lending Act (TILA)

Culture Debt Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Government Regulation Housing Markets and Finance Political Thought Poverty and Inequality Public Opinion Reader Replies Top Issues Transparency Updates

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Reply Is the Real Joke

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date October 25, 2025
No Comments on The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Reply Is the Real Joke

Mortgage Bankers Association

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s slow, self-serving defense of the 30-year mortgage proves that lifetime debt, not homeownership, is the product they’re really selling.

Conservatism Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Government Regulation Markets and Finance Political Thought Press Top Issues Transparency Updates

Modernizing the Bank Secrecy Act: Cutting Red Tape and Ending Debanking

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date October 23, 2025
No Comments on Modernizing the Bank Secrecy Act: Cutting Red Tape and Ending Debanking

Congress must update the Bank Secrecy Act for the 21st century…

The Real Cost of Homeownership: Beyond the Mortgage and APR

Post author By Ed Harris
Post date October 15, 2025
No Comments on The Real Cost of Homeownership: Beyond the Mortgage and APR

This guest commentary was written by Ed Harris, CEO of Harris Northwest Advisors and a Visiting Contributor at the Southwest Public Policy Institute. In his argument about APR, Patrick Brenner is wrong but inadvertently correct on a larger point he doesn’t address. An APR calculation is mathematically accurate. Most fixed-rate 30-year mortgages are priced similarly, […]

Culture Debt Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Government Regulation Housing Markets and Finance Political Thought Public Opinion Reader Replies Transparency

Compounding Interest: The Case Against the Confused Case Against the Case Against 30-Year Mortgages

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date October 13, 2025
No Comments on Compounding Interest: The Case Against the Confused Case Against the Case Against 30-Year Mortgages

In his letter responding to my column in The Wall Street Journal, “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages,” former Freddie Mac executive David Andrukonis defends the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage as a transparent, borrower-friendly product. In “A Confused Case Against 30-Year Mortgages,” he argues that such loans are fully prepayable, giving homeowners flexibility to refinance or pay […]

Culture Debt Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Government Regulation Housing Markets and Finance Political Thought Public Opinion Reader Replies Transparency

Compounding Interest: Reader Replies, Part IV

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date October 9, 2025
2 Comments on Compounding Interest: Reader Replies, Part IV

When you publish in The Wall Street Journal, you have to expect a few readers to come out swinging. Some disagree on principle; others on tone. And then there are those who lecture you like you just flunked Econ 101. Read the full series here. Meet Jay Wright, Adjunct Professor of Finance at Georgetown University. […]