Melvin Watt: “we either have to write a law that covers every eccentricity, every nuance, or we have to write a general principle.”

Don't expect me to disregard the law and do it for you.

There is no rational reason, if you think about it, why a superior tax lien would be having an interest rate of 10, 11, 12 percent when a lien subordinate to it is going at 4 percent or 5 percent.

I think the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has become a standard for American homeowners, and it is important to retain that.

I took a lot of heat for reinstating it. But it was a statutory mandate, and I did not see a reason not to follow the statute.