The FHFA just announced that it will no longer allow Fannie and Freddie to purchase or guarantee so-called "non-qualified" mortgages with more than 30 years amortization or that have interest only payments, among other restrictions.

Anyway, I never gave much thought to Goodfellas being a cinematic template for the kinds of schemes, scams and financial shenanigans pulled off by the Wall Street mob until recently.

It may be needlessly costly for a big bank to hide from determined, aggrieved adversaries who hold the moral high ground.

Nothing can better send a message to the world that the United States is serious about restoring the integrity of its money industry than by banning from it the prominent people who deceived the nation and the world.

It's estimated that the bonus pool of just one of these big banks would have been enough money to prevent or significantly delay foreclosure for all 2.3 million people who lost their homes last year.

Paulson made his bets in late 2006 just as the sub-prime mortgage markets were starting to weaken. His timing was impeccable, as was his luck.

We can expect a new wave of mortgage-backed bond defaults to hit the headlines any day now.

We have a financial system that has played to people's weaknesses. We have allowed people who are prone to instant gratification to have as much credit as they could get their hands on.

Unless someone is capable of changing the American psyche, people are going to go back to their old spending habits.

NEW YORK — Foreclosures are spreading by epidemic proportions, expanding beyond a handful of problem states and now affecting almost 1 in every ...