An hour after his inauguration, Mr. Trump used his brand new power as president to issue an executive order that ... raises premiums on FHA mortgages. The order will jack up first year premiums on a $200,000 housing loan by $500.
Surrounded by a laughing Paul Ryan, Mike Pence, other Republican bigwigs, and family members, Trump reversed an Obama FHA rate cut.
The winners? The insurance industry and its lobbyists. Trump’s order is a “yuuuge” gift to private mortgage insurers like Radian Group and MGIC Investment Corp. because it makes their higher priced loans more competitive with FHA.
The losers? Ordinary working-class Americans trying to realize their dream of owning their own home. They just saw their already strained household budgets take on thousands of dollars of increased mortgage expenses. First-time home buyers and low-income buyers will be especially hurt by the bill.
Short version? Another win for the billionaire class, another loss for the working class.
So much for the “populist candidate.”
