Consumer finance, credit access, and open government.
I’m the founder and president of the Southwest Public Policy Institute. I write about the rules that decide whether ordinary people can borrow, build, and own — rate caps, rate exportation, interchange, retirement restrictions — and about what happens when those rules get written out of public view.
My columns run in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Hill, National Review, American Banker and elsewhere. When agencies won’t produce the records behind their decisions, we take them to court.
My latest work
- Mortgage rates just fell below a crucial psychological threshold
Originally published by The Washington Post. The difference from a 6 percent rate is tiny, but the appeal to customers is big. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now sits near 5.98 percent, the first time it has been below 6 percent since 2022 and bringing it below a crucial psychological threshold. Many in the housing industry, including Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, expect the change in the mortgage rate to draw buyers back into the market simply because the first number had shifted from 6 to 5 percent. - Credit Card Rate Caps Will Lead To a Shortage of Credit Cards
Originally published by Real Clear Markets. Affordability has become the defining economic issue of the moment. Headline inflation hovers around 3 percent year-over-year, yet prices for essential categories such as housing and rent continue to rise faster than wages. Mortgage costs for homeowners have surpassed $2,000, and rents have climbed to nearly $1,500. Home prices remain far above pre-pandemic levels, up 80 percent since 2017. Vehicles are increasingly expensive: the average new car now costs about $50,000. The total U.S. household debt to finance it all has swelled to an all-time high of $18.6 trillion. - New Mexico knows Trump’s BLM nominee. Back away.
Originally published by The Washington Post. Former New Mexico Republican chairman Steve Pearce is the opposite of what the complex agency needs. There was a time when Republicans prided themselves on being the party that can actually run things. In the West, this was reflected in sound GOP stewardship of public lands that blended enterprise with environmental respect, a tradition exemplified by Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation ethic and Ronald Reagan’s pragmatic federalism. - The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages
Originally published by The Wall Street Journal. Subsidized debt drives up prices, sucks up wealth, and makes it hard for millennials to buy homes. I usually roll my eyes at millennials’ complaints about how much harder they have it than their parents. But when it comes to homeownership, they have a point. Millennials reached the 50% homeownership milestone later than any previous generation, burdened by record-high housing costs, elevated mortgage rates, and struggles with down payments. Nearly a quarter say they expect to rent forever.