Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac: 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgages A Sticky Wicket

When the Crapo-Johnson proposal for replacing Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Assctn Fnni Me (OTCBB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC) with a new federal agency was released, the Senators made it clear that supporting access to fixed-rate, 30-year loans was one of their top priorities. It wasn’t much of a surprise, then, that the importance of affordable long-term loans is often taken for granted when debating government’s role in the mortgage market, and full privatization seems unlikely because no politician wants to come out against 30-year loans. But the societal benefit of increasing home…