After all the bailouts and 2 trillion to back up the financial markets, the Federal Reserve has still not made mortgage rates fall. It's ridiculous. The Fed needs to turn the bazooka of the printing presses to buy up mortgage backed securities, or just directly loan to consumers. Every time mortgage rates rise, they trigger more ARM's to adjust higher and creates another round of defaults. If the 30 year fixed went back to 4.5-5%, borrowers could refinance, and stabilize their finances. Small businesses would not be overstretched with debt and consumers could step up and bail out the world economy with spending. Most small business owners got sucked into the debt hole of adjustable rate mortgages to finance their lifestyles. Now we're seeing rates rise and choke almost every business to the brink. The root cause of this crisis was predatory lending. This time banks need to get it right and lock in low rates for consumers. What's good for the small guy, is good for the financial system. It's pretty obvious from the last 2 years.