Insurance: M.G.I.C.'s Magic

For decades after the Depression wiped out the loosely run mortgage-guaranty companies that flourished in the '20s, the Federal Government was the only source of insurance for home loans, chiefly through the Federal Housing Administration. Today, seven private companies are successfully challenging that monopoly. The oldest and by far the largest, Milwaukee-based Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., has not only grown into a thriving concern with $50 million of assets and $3.5 billion of insurance in force, but has also spread its operations into 46 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Australia.

That comeback by private enterprise is particularly impressive...

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