>>>>>Laying blames is exclusively your business so don't peddle it around. FYI, great majority of US homeowners take fixed-rate mortgages.
>>>>
>>>>In Norway more or less nobody has fixed interest mortgages, because statistics over many, many years have shown that it's cheaper in the long run with "variable" interest. I am pretty sure the same is valid in the rest of Europe.
>>>
>>>You could be right, but press, at least here, always blames (sorry, for the word :) exotic (i.e. adjustable etc.) mortgages for homeowner failures i.e. foreclosures. It is also traditional in States, as far as I know, to take fixed-rate. I am unsure about statistics, but, in general, imo, adjustable is still a gamble that rates will go down.
>>
>>This is also a gamble for the banks, and the reality is that the banks are more clever gamlers than private persons. The net result is that the banks give you a higher rate for fixed rate mortgages since they are forced, by their owners, to earn money. But I guess the free press coverage/advertisements ratio is very different in the US than over here, so we get to hear more from "both sides".
>
>That's the point (re: cleverer gamblers). Adjustable rate assumes more active 'poker' with bankers and realistically our (individual consumers) chances are not very high.

It may me that the situation in US is very different from the situation in Norway. Over the last 25 years I have checked the interest rate for fixed mortgages and compared it to the interest for variable mortgages, and this ratio has been in the favour of variable mortgages almost all the time. It's easy to discuss theories, but you can't fight facts.