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60 "We didn't have enough domestic buyers, so we had to depend on our Asian buyers to step up and buy more issuance every month, and it was a very turbulent time," Murin said reflecting. "Obviously, at that time, the agency only had 69 emploees, and we weren't able to get any more employees authorized through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). So, I will tell you, it caused us a tremendous amount of angst every day in 2008 and 2009." At the beginning of the post-crisis era, Murin believes the political environment was demonized. "I think the industry was paying its repentance for its sins, but all we were doing was hurting the national economy because housing was at a standstill," he said. Murin continued, "One thing I learned when I was in Washington is that the end term and consequences of your actions aren't really understood. When you drop a pebble into a pond of water, those ripples touch all the shorelines, so you have to think about the repercussions when you do something, and sometimes I think that there's a lack of that." But what stood out the most to the former Ginnie Mae President during the crisis? It was the resilience of the American people on any level, on anything. "We went through a once- in-a- lifetime traumatic event in the 2008 time period that we saw some really important initiatives come to the forefront," Murin said. "We saw folks working together because they knew what they were sav- ing were the stability of the American govern- ment as related to its finances." Jack Konyk, Executive Director, Govern- ment Affairs, Weiner Brodsky Kider, has over four decades of financial services experience and serves as a voice for the industry with legislators and regulators at all levels of government. For Konyk, reflecting on the post-crisis era involves looking back at the different administrations. According to Konyk, during the Obama administration, there was an extreme reaction to economic circumstances, some it deserved, and some of it not. "ere was a willingness upon a lot of the regulatory community to just blame the industry for everything that happened and crackdown, literally, on just about every practice they could find; which caused a great deal of angst," said Konyk. Of course, the industry was simply react- ing to the economic realities of the downturn, but there were a lot of distractions in trying to respond. From lawsuits and regulatory actions to trying to interpret and implement regulations that were incredibly severe. "e industry just knew it was walking on eggs, but it didn't know exactly where the safe paths were," said Konyk. As for the current administration, Konyk believes there is an indication that this admin- istration is more willing to look at business as a positive partner in the operation of the economy and not necessarily the enemy. Although, this administration hasn't been adept at making leadership appointments. One of the greatest issues today, according to Konyk, is the need to place rational, reason- able, regulatory authorities and leaders in key governmental positions who will work toward establishing a marketplace that Americans can rely on, understand, and operate confidently in, without inadvertently causing massive risk to the companies. FOR THE GREATER GOOD In June 2017, DeMarco testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs during a hearing on, "Prin- ciples of Housing Finance Reform," as President of the Housing Policy Council (HPC), a division of the Financial Services Roundtable. e HPC's 32 member-firms are among the nation's leading mortgage originators, servicers, insurers and mortgage data service and settle- ment providers. DeMarco testified that these leaders operate in the mortgage market every day and they want it to be healthy and stable for the future to serve their customers—current and future homeowners. "As a trade association and especially one representing the largest players in the market, we seek what's good for the system as a whole," DeMarco said. "Competitive balance, effective and understandable regulations that align with good business practices, and opportunities for innovation in serving customers. When I was a regulator, I was concerned with similar end goals." Just as rulemaking and regulatory oversight involve balancing competing interests for the greater good, so does running a trade associa- tion that's concerned with markets functioning efficiently and effectively. While there aren't very many policy issues that are cut-and-dried, right and wrong—most inevitably involve trade-offs. "I have come back to a core belief in markets and in basic economic principles," DeMarco said. "Such as, the benefits of competitions, the importance in considering the incentives that laws and regulations can create, and maintain- ing some awareness of the law of unintended consequences." Today, the regulatory framework is under- going a fresh round of thinking with the new administration and with the new regulators that are taking their seats. Regulators are looking to improve the balance between ensuring there are guardrails in place while making sure those guardrails are not, in fact, limiting access to "I think the most important thing to understand is that the only reason for the government to be involved in the housing finance system is to help low and medium income families buy homes." - Peter Wallison, Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute

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