Washington's inability to come to grips with the nation's debt issues and other economic woes is costing jobs and holding back the economy, the president of the Mortgage Bankers Association charged in a speech Tuesday.
David Stevens, who as FHA commissioner was part of the political landscape less than a year ago, chastised lawmakers and the administration for failing to act decisively.
Instead of working diligently to reduce the uncertainty, he carped, policy makers are creating more of it. Stevens was speaking at the trade group's annual commercial mortgage banking show in Atlanta.
While businesses “live and die by the rules of the real economy,” the MBA president said, Washington has chosen to live by a different set of rules.
Instead of addressing the issues as they present themselves, the modus operandi on Capital Hill is “wait and see,” Stevens charged.
“Let's wait and see how things look after the election,” he said. “Let's see what the polls are saying at this time next month. Let's reconvene after the recess and talk some more. Let's do a continuing resolution or a funding patch.”
But business, particularly the lending business, can't operate in that fashion, the MBA president warned.
“You don't have the luxury of speculation,” he told the nearly 2,300 commercial real estate specialists attending the three-day conference. “You are committing capital – other people's capital. And you have to be decisive.”
Warning that the country's mounting debt hangs as a “dark cloud” over the economy, Stevens criticized policymakers for holding hostage the economic prospects of future generations by their indecision. “Opportunity is being undermined in a country where opportunity is bedrock,” he said.
