I agree that if you were trying to lower housing prices you would start by eliminating all the subsidies.
There is some chance that eliminating all subsidies would not meet whatever price goal is desired. Housing near employment is going to inevitably be scarce in some cities, and people will inevitably get in bidding wars. If people can take out the maximum mortgage that a high-earning, two income family can afford, then everyone will need two-high earning incomes to keep up (see the book The Two Income Trap).
If you want to regulate the mortgage market, that's one way to go. But that should be a totally separate concern from FDIC and should be implemented in a separate way. Removing depositors' insurance because their bank didn't follow mortgaging regulations is a very poor way to regulate the banking industry.
I think it is most reasonable to have the insurance company be the regulator. This is common in almost all other industries. If you are a landlord, the apartment insurance company will tell you to not allow smoking in the apartment or else it will not insure you or will jack up your rates. If I was czar, I would consolidate the bank regulating functionality which is now spread across a half dozen agencies all into the FDIC. If a bank refused to abide by FDIC regulations it would either face higher premiums or be expelled. If a bank was expelled, all customers would have an opportunity to transfer their deposits to another bank. The executives of the FDIC would be given a comp-plan designed to make them balance the need for expanding credit and the need for overall stability. For instance they could be comped based on overall premiums, but with clawbacks of the last decade of bonuses if the FDIC faces systemic failure and needs a bailout.
There is some chance that eliminating all subsidies would not meet whatever price goal is desired. Housing near employment is going to inevitably be scarce in some cities, and people will inevitably get in bidding wars. If people can take out the maximum mortgage that a high-earning, two income family can afford, then everyone will need two-high earning incomes to keep up (see the book The Two Income Trap).
If you want to regulate the mortgage market, that's one way to go. But that should be a totally separate concern from FDIC and should be implemented in a separate way. Removing depositors' insurance because their bank didn't follow mortgaging regulations is a very poor way to regulate the banking industry.
I think it is most reasonable to have the insurance company be the regulator. This is common in almost all other industries. If you are a landlord, the apartment insurance company will tell you to not allow smoking in the apartment or else it will not insure you or will jack up your rates. If I was czar, I would consolidate the bank regulating functionality which is now spread across a half dozen agencies all into the FDIC. If a bank refused to abide by FDIC regulations it would either face higher premiums or be expelled. If a bank was expelled, all customers would have an opportunity to transfer their deposits to another bank. The executives of the FDIC would be given a comp-plan designed to make them balance the need for expanding credit and the need for overall stability. For instance they could be comped based on overall premiums, but with clawbacks of the last decade of bonuses if the FDIC faces systemic failure and needs a bailout.