Fannie and Freddie: End the Mortgage Duopoly

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Fannie and Freddie must also be reformed because of their role in the culture of corruption in Washington. They have become political ATM machines for campaign contributions. That has to stop.

We must also realize that, whatever the deficiencies of the mortgage market in Depression-era America, that era is over. There is no "market failure" in housing finance today, except the one created by government-backed institutions dominating housing finance. Money flows where it is rewarded. Home mortgages are plain vanilla financial instruments, perhaps partly due to Fannie and Freddie. So by all means, let us thank them for their service as we bid them adieu in their present form.

Time to separate mortgage from state.