Mary,

This really is the "clear and present danger." It's terrifying in no small part because so many people in the middle class (what's left of it) are only a couple of months away from bankruptcy because savings rates have fallen so low. The real unemployment rate is closer to 9%, a collapse of the debt based economy will cause an extraordinary amount of suffering.

"Bush's economy is not a very pretty picture for many except those would have been fortunate enough to benefit greatly from his largess."

You mean homeowners. 70% of Americans are homeowners, and have benefitted tremendously from low interest rates and appreciation in real estate. The net worth of Americans has surged under President Bush.

According to the home survey, also from the BLS (www.bls.gov), jobs are increasing.

Kerry better switch his tactics and start talking about air quality. Bush and Co. are setting Kerry up. The economy is growing, and the negative talk from Kerry is making him look foolish and shrill.

Why would interest rates go up?

Lots of reasons:

• The Fed is worried about inflation (after November)
  
• The Fed feels the need to prop up the dollar
  
• Large holders of US debt abroad (such as China and Japan) decide that they are not willing to hold as much, forcing the Fed to raise interest rates
  
• Bondholders generally begin to worry that the deficit will stay high, demanding higher rates
  

In general you are quite right to be worried about all those variable rate mortgages. The economy has been running largely on refinanced houses. As a result, many of those "homeowners" have very little equity, even at today's prices. If current prices turn out to be a bubble, they will quickly find themselves with negative equity -- a very nasty surprise.

Muckdog,
It's time to take your meds in order to stop the hallucinations.