But, in America s home mortgage market, this is much less common.

Standard Poor s analyst Juan Pablo de Mollein points out that Mexico does not have a liquid secondary market where mortgage securities can be traded to buyers who are far removed from the original issuer.

But that is precisely why a government managed mortgage market is dangerous.

Credit risk in the mortgage market is being assumed by the government, and market risk by the Fed.

That time is over, as the breakdown of the American mortgage securitization market has shown.

Poor s analyst Juan Pablo de Mollein points out that Mexico does not have a liquid secondary market where mortgage securities can be traded to buyers who are far removed from the original issuer. That tends to make buyers more cautious.

It may make sense for central banks (or Fannie Mae, America s major government sponsored mortgage company) to buy mortgage backed securities in order to help provide market liquidity.

In Mexico, the market for new low and middle income housing has grown rapidly, thanks to the creation of a market for residential mortgage securities in 2003.

Because banks would need to accept higher risk, a secondary market for mortgages is necessary.

One sure way to reduce the savings rate in China would be to develop an American style mortgage market there.

After the sub prime mortgage crisis, politicians alleged that the market was short sighted and irrational, and rushed to propose new regulations.

Moreover, the US housing market appears to be stabilizing....Overall, the US mortgage market has remained resilient, although the sub prime segment has deteriorated a bit more rapidly than had been expected.

Some, observing the crash of the sub prime mortgage market, say, Don t worry, it is only a problem in the real estate sector.

An interest rate rise might take the heat out of the mortgage market, but it will also chill the rest of the economy.

This brings us back to the US Treasury s plan to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to unclog the sub prime mortgage market.

The staff saw the relaxation of lending standards in the US mortgage market, but noted that borrowers at risk of significant mortgage payment increases remained a small minority, concentrated mostly among higher income households that were aware of the attendant risks.

It is perplexing because in conventional analyses of which activities should be in the public domain, running the national mortgage market is never mentioned.

In parallel, the ECB has announced an outright monetary transactions (OMT) program to purchase bonds already trading on the secondary market.

An audit would also reveal more details about financial market interventions like those in 2008, when the Fed purchased mortgage securities from Bear Stearns and AIG.

However, beyond the mortgage market, other huge risks are lurking, especially in the US financial system credit cards, car loans, and presumably a few other things.

A major concern of the German Constitutional Court is the similarity between the ESM s Secondary Market Support Facility (SMSF) and the ECB s OMT program, both of which imply the purchase of government bonds in secondary markets.

Occupy the Mortgage Lenders

So its failure to press the United States to redress the mortgage market vulnerabilities that precipitated the current financial crisis indicates that much remains to be done.

Indeed, with its recent decision to pursue QE3, the Fed is focusing once again on the mortgage backed securities market but, given that the market is much healthier now, it is unclear how much good this will do.

In the advanced countries, the market for first time purchases of mass market goods like cars, refrigerators, and televisions is saturated, while the secondary market for used and reconditioned goods has become much less dynamic, undermining employment in repairs and renovations.

And the market is prone to temporary fits of shared enthusiasm for emerging market debt, for Internet stocks, for residential mortgage backed securities, for Greek government debt. Traders need not wait to see when or whether the profits materialize.

MUNICH Once upon a time, stocks were risky and collateralized securities were safe. That time is over, as the breakdown of the American mortgage securitization market has shown.

The Greek government currently must pay 25 for its ten year bonds, which are trading at a 50 discount in the secondary market.

Policy enhancements have been made to mortgage portability, second homes and mortgage qualification for self employed borrowers.

For 18 months, it has been buying government bonds worth more than 200 billion ( 254 billion) on secondary markets under its Securities Market Program.

The reliance of modern banking regulation on risk weighting is nowhere more important than in the mortgage market. If regulators get it wrong, the entire edifice could collapse yet again.

But lower short term interest rates have led to higher medium term interest rates, which are more relevant for the mortgage market, perhaps because of increasing worries about inflationary pressures.

Ultimately, these financial failures reflect the downward spiral of house prices and the increasing number of homes with negative equity, i.e., with substantial mortgage debt in excess of market values.

The impetus for a big subprime market came from within the private sector innovation by giant mortgage lenders like Countrywide, Ameriquest, and many others, backed by the big investment banks.

After all, when the global financial crisis erupted in 2008 from the bowels of the American subprime mortgage market, global investors responded by fleeing to the US, not from it.

The Right Weights for Mortgage Risks

There is also a dark cloud over the mortgage market following a judgment by the Supreme People s Court in 2003 that banned the repossession of homes that are a primary residence.

The plan s central conceit is that government ingenuity can disentangle the trillion dollar sub prime mortgage loan market, even though Wall Street s own rocket scientists have utterly failed to do so.

What started with subprime mortgages spread to all collateralized debt obligations, endangered municipal and mortgage insurance and reinsurance companies and threatened to unravel the multi trillion dollar credit default swap market.

But the main concern centers around the Treasury s apparent intention to pay more than double the current market price (20 30 cents on the dollar) on the premise that its success in untangling the mortgage market would make any discount seem like a bargain.

But the main concern centers around the Treasury s apparent intention to pay more than double the current market price (20 30 cents on the dollar) on the premise that Treasury s success in untangling the mortgage market will make any discount seem like a bargain.

More people wanted to join the labor market. Not only were the educational elite seeking better paying jobs in the formal sector of the labor market but also those with secondary education were hopeful of finding such openings.

Mortgage debts, too, must be written down.

When that happens, inflationary expectations will mount, long term government bond yields will rise, mortgage rates and private market rates will increase, and one would end up with stagflation (inflation and recession).

Re entry to secondary and post secondary education is still difficult.