Rate change would be from 6.5% to 6%, and part of my trouble is I don't really have a good sense of where those numbers fall on the spectrum of typical rates. Do people get rates much lower than that?

If you have enough years paid, you could go to a 15 year fixed. You might be able to get an even better rate that way as well.

Dave Ramsey specifically mentioned this week that rates are dropping right now.* He only ever recommmends 15-year fixed and I'm pretty sure it was in the low 5s. It definitely wasn't close to 6%.

It seems like it will pass, I'm just hoping there is sufficient oversight.

Just listening to CNN, this bill (in its current incarnation) is dead in the water.

ETA: *for people that are financially stable and ready to buy houses.

across the street from the Waldorf Astoria

Ooh. Can anybody, like, go in there and ask for a Waldorf salad?

Ooh. Can anybody, like, go in there and ask for a Waldorf salad?

Sure. It has about five restaurants. Most of them probably serve it.

I really want to re-fi into a 15 year fixed while the rates are dropping.

I stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria several years ago. My mom, sister, and sister's friend were in NYC for the weekend after Xmas, and sis and her friend had half-off coupons from the hotel chain [Hyatt? Hilton? one of the two] that owns the W-A, so instead of paying $400/night, we only paid $200. Nice rooms, but like a fancy restaurant, nothing comes free, not even the coffee (Mom was pissed to find a $5 charge on the bill for the coffee she made in the room that morning). The location cannot be beat, though--it was a perfect base for wandering Manhattan.

ABC News' Political Radar blog quotes an unnamed "senior Obama campaign official" as saying that "the debate is on" and the Democratic nominee "intends to debate."

And Fox News interviewed Gloria Kellum, the vice chancellor for university relations at the University of Mississippi, which is hosting Friday's debate. Kellum told the network's Shepard Smith, "The Commission on Presidential Debates is moving forward, and so they're saying to the candidates, 'This was our agreement, this is what we're gonna do.'" The CPD is in charge of arranging the debates.

Gloria Kellum, the vice chancellor for university relations at the University of Mississippi, which is hosting Friday's debate.

Wonder why thiy didn't just call it Ole Miss.

A friend emailed me that when one of her colleagues heard about McCain's call to stop everything and concentrate on the bailout he said - (paraphrasing) - if he's president is he going to be able to stop everything else to work on one thing at a time?

And um, it's not like there isn't any crazy shit going on right now related to foreign policy either - North Korea making noise again this morning, just for example.

Hell, I don't get to work on one thing at a time.