Financial Services and Education Project

Ellen Seidman, financial services policy director for the New America Foundation think-tank, said the FDIC should not take on that risk without also passing on the cost.

"They've got to take into account the additional risk that they're taking on in setting the premiums," she said. "I've seen some talk of saying, 'Well, we're going to increase the deposit limit but we're not going to increase the premiums.' I don't think that makes any sense." LINK to audio

Raising the limit will be particularly helpful for small-business owners who will be able to worry less about keeping accounts at separate banks, said Ellen Seidman, financial services policy director in the Asset Building program of the New America Foundation.   "Splitting among several banks is terribly inconvenient for running a business," Seidman said. "Also, as a matter of business, the more money you have in a bank, the better services you tend to get from that bank." LINK

The failure of the largest thrift in the nation has sealed the fate of the Office of Thrift Supervision, observers said Friday.

Washington Mutual Inc. accounted for about 20% of the assets overseen by the agency and 12% of its budget. Its collapse and subsequent sale to JPMorgan Chase & Co., which said it would not keep Wamu's thrift charter, heightens concerns about the OTS' viability and… more

Despite a live presidential explanation Wednesday night, two days of testimony by top government officials, and an endless series of lawmaker press conferences, many questions about the proposed bailout plan persist. Below, we offer answers to some frequently asked questions:

Who is the bailout supposed to help? . . .

Why doesn't the government just buy vacant real estate? Wouldn't that be easier? . . .

Observers… more

Ellen Seidman, former director of the Treasury’s Office of Thrift Supervision, testified in that capacity before the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services on February 8, 2000 that her office had warned repeatedly of the risks of subprime lending: “Subprime lending, which involves lending to borrowers who have a significantly higher risk of default based on their credit repayment history, has been the subject of intensive OTS scrutiny by our policy and supervisory staff for several years. We started sounding warnings about risks arising from this lending activity… more

And while critics contend that CRA costs banks, other contend that once lenders move into underserved neighborhoods, profit can be made. Ellen Seidman of the New America Foundation’s Financial Services and Education Project told Congress, “Once these initiatives were started, many have proven to be sustainable in purely financial terms.” LINK

This paper, written for Furman Center at New York University in May 2008 by New America Foundation's Ellen Seidman and the Center for American Progress' Andrew Jakabovics, discusses asset disposition lessons learned from previous financial crises -- including the activities of the New Deal-era Home Owners Loan Corporation, the Resolution Trust Corporation formed in the wake of the savings and loan crisis, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's more recent Asset Control Area program to dispose of foreclosed… more

In standard U.S. policy-speak, “poverty” is an income concept. The “poverty line” is an income measure, access to social programs is largely related to income, and when policymakers examine distributional effects of a policy, they turn to income quintiles.

Income, however, provides an incomplete picture of family well-being. Income measures a household’s flow of funds, but that flow can be interrupted. In his recent book High Wire, Peter Gosselin presents disturbing evidence that income volatility in the United States--measured by the percentage of households experiencing a 50-percent decline… more

These materials were presented at the 2008 Assets Learning Conference.

This presentation was given at the 2008 Assets Learning Conference.