Ultimately, the debate over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac boils down to whether all Americans should continue to have relatively easy access to the pre-payable, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage, an editorial in The Wall Street Journal claims.

American homeowners love the 30-year mortgage, which isn't available in most other countries. It provides payments that are stable for the life of the loan, which makes finances easier to manage.

But there are still those who disagree:

Those who want the government out of the mortgage business say the 30-year fixed isn't all it's cracked up to be. Because borrowers pay a lot of interest during the first few years of the loan, it's hard to quickly build equity. This makes the loan less practical in an era where people move, switch jobs, and get divorced more often than in the past.