John Herzog, Alabama's first Certified Mortgage Banker, is a finance wizard, world class trainer and friend of many years. He has always had the ability to take the most complex concept and restate it in terms that I and others can easily understand.
And once again he's done it: an intelligible explanation for the current state of affairs in the world of high finance. Thanks, John!
"Trying to guess which way interest rates will go in circumstances unprecedented since the great depression is impossible so let's see if we can describe what is going on in laymen's terms to allow each of you to decide for yourself if the government is taking the right course of action.
Banks and investment banks have a lot of delinquent (and potentially delinquent) loans on their balance sheets. These financial institutions are required to hold money (capital) in reserve against the potential of the future losses of the bad loans to be considered solvent. The money held off the market then is lost to the market as capital for future lending. The higher the delinquencies the more capital held out of the market until finally there is no new money for new loans (lack of liquidity). That is about where we are as no new capital is flowing into the mortgage markets.
Potential solution: Issue each of these institutions a Waste Away Bin with two wheels to roll it to the Wall Street curb. Allow them to put all their bad debt in the bin and put it on the curb for the government to come pick it up for some small percentage of its value. The money the government pays these institutions for their bad debt when they drive the garbage truck down Wall Street will be just enough to keep the institution afloat. The real value however will be to free all that capital being held in reserve against future losses to inject into the credit markets (all be it under much tighter credit guidelines and regulation).
Next the Federal Government takes all the garbage back to the dump and tries to make compost out of it so they can sell it later for more than they paid for it so the tax payer does not lose money. It remains to be seen if this step could be accomplished, but it is believed the losses will not be as great as the market currently expects and consequently later the value of these bad assets will rise.
Sounds like a good solution, but there are a lot of variables that will determine if in fact it will work:
1. Will the cost of buying the bad assets drive the dollar down, cause inflation to go up, and make rates rise?
2. Will lenders find enough "qualified" borrowers for their new money under the tighter regulations to stimulate the housing market back into prosperity and avoid recession?
3. Will the government be able to work with the troubled assets (loans) it buys enough to resell them at a profit, or will this "bail out" cost the taxpayer a bundle and be a drag on the economy for decades? To use Barak Obama's phrase, the answers to these questions are above my pay grade and I am glad some of the best financial minds in America are focused on the problem. For me, I am betting they'll work it out."
John Herzog CMB Vice President/Regional Manager
New South Federal Savings Bank
JHerzog@NewSouthFederal.com
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