Whew what a day!  First I have to watch Blagojevich doing the talk show circuit (go Rachel Maddow!), then Starbucks is only offering Decaf if you wait for them to brew it and finally rates go up- again! How much can we take!!! I can't stand seeing that idiot's hair, I drink  decaf after 3PM and the rates keep going up instead of down as the media suggests. So, about rates- because that is why you are here. The stock market went up today, so big investors (not Maddoff) pull money out of the Treasury bonds to invest in stocks. The yield goes up and the mortgage rates also move upwards. Jitters and jitters over home prices and sales (the Big Apple is feeling it too), the Bad Bank is freaking people out and unemployment- more. The Bad Bank is a government discussion to take all the bad debt off the good banks' books so they can dust off and start fresh. This should make rates settle down and lending soften up- it did not.  Unemployment is working against us. My finance textbooks say that as unemployment increases, interest rates go down. This is currently not the case, and I think I know why. The banks think that everybody they approve for a mortgage has the potential to get fired. In light of this fear, they have created higher standards of lending and greater scrutiny of borrowers. I personally, I am very concerned about global warming and would like to invest more of my efforts into advocating for clean water. Unfortunately, I now spend more time explaining to clients why the rates ate not 4.5%, trying to convince my lenders that my borrowers are not being fired tomorrow, and lastly brewing my own decaf! (I am only kidding about the decaf- I would never spend 4 bucks for a latte.) When will it end! Dale Siegel PS: As I click the publish button- AIG announced big bonuses to Manangement- ouch!

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