Is the Mortgage Crisis Over?

This week in a new article Barron's asks the rhetorical: Is the government's mortgage mission accomplished? Boy, oh boy. The last time someone declared 'Mission Accomplished' we all know what happened (Iraq). Then again, as we at National Mortgage News recently pointed out: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now posting "operating" profits. If only it weren't for those nasty 10% dividend payments to the U.S. Treasury… Of course, an operating profit can evaporate as quickly as it appears, especially if megabanks like Bank of America stop forking over settlement money on loan buybacks. (Does money collected from legal settlements count toward an operating profit?) But let's face it: The molasses rolls downhill and the GSEs aim to make their seller/servicers and mortgage insurers pay because, well, they can. In some cases, the GSEs have justifiable claims; in other cases, no. But these "arguments" over who should pay on losses incurred eventually will  disappear. As time progress, the GSEs' 'book of business' changes over, getting replaced with newer, higher (much higher) quality loans. I know of a few veteran mortgage lobbyists who believe that Fannie and Freddie may never truly disappear. A 'master' GSE may survive in one form or another. If that's the case, the only piece of advice I would offer is this: legally prohibit that entity from lobbying Congress and the White House…