The Battalion
Viewpoint
December 4, \{
Slouch By Jim Earle
‘Ton know, I think I’m in agreement with you. Playing a good
game, winning a moral victory, showing your courage, and
that sort of thing is okay, but winning is better. ”
recession’s silver lining
By GARY KLOTT
United Press International
NEW YORK — The silver lining in the
current recession is that mortgage rates are
coming down and home prices have fallen.
Indeed, the prospect of lower mortgage
rates and depressed home prices could well
present many prospective homebuyers
with the first opportunity in months to buy
at an advantageous price and finance at
more affordable rates.
Mortgage rates already have posted
some significant declines — admittedly
from levels almost nobody could afford to
levels a very few can afford.
In October, a government survey found
lenders were asking a record average 18.17
percent for conventional mortgages. By late
last month, according to last week’s survey
by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage
Corp., lenders across the country had chop
ped rates on standard fixed-rate mortgages
to an average 17.21 percent.
Rates on variable-rate mortgages have
been cut by some major lenders to around
16 percent. And over the past several weeks
the government has slashed the rates on
both FHA-insured and VA-guaranteed
home loans to 15.5 percent from 17.5 per
cent.
Many economists and bankers expect
conventional mortgage rates to fall to
around 14 or 15 percent by spring, but then
they look for rates and home prices to creep
back up again.
Their reasoning is that once rates fall
demand will pick up, which will push both
rates and home prices back up. At the same
time, they see rates being shoved higher
due to competition for long-term funds
from corporations seeking to finance in the
bond market and from the government’s
need to finance potentially huge budget de
ficits. Additional pressure will be exerted as
the economy begins to recover.
When is the best time to buy? Housing
experts differ on the answer.
Some suggest waiting for further de
clines in rates over the next few months.
But others advise buying as soon as rates fall
to a level which makes a purchase afford
able since it’s not certain how long and how
far rates and home prices will move down
ward.
Francis H. Shott, chief economist for the
Equitable Life Assurance Society of the
United States, says the best buying oppor
tunity probably will be this winter. Waiting
longer than that, he says, poses the risk of
finding rates and prices having turned back
up.
During the winter, he adds, homes tra
ditionally move more slowly, making it
easier for a buyer to win concessions from
the seller. Another incentive, according to
Equitable’s real estate relocation service, is
that moving costs are about 10 percent low
er during the winter than the peak summer
season when 60 percent of all moves are
made.
Shott believes rates on fixedrate mort
gages — which are getting harder to obtain
— could drop to as low as 13.5 percent, with
rates on variablerate mortgages falling to
perhaps 12 percent.
The economist said he personally would
opt for a fixedrate mortgage. Although a
variable-rate mortgage — where the in
terest rate shifts up and down over the life
of the loan according to prevailing market
conditions — starts off at a lower rate, he
says the danger that rates could later rise to
unaffordable levels “is another big risk that
the ordinary person needs like a hole in the
head.”
But James Christian, economist for the
U.S. League of Savings Associations, says
he personally would prefer the lower rate
on an adjustablerate mortgage “that would
drift on down with rates.” If rates fall, he
said, a fixed-rate mortgage holder is either
stuck with the higher rate or else he must
pay costly loan origination fees to refinance
the loan at a lower rate.
But he added, “I would shop around and
drive the hardest bargain I could with the
lender and design the terms of my own
mortgage loan — and, yes, some of them
will listen.”
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Angelique Copeland
Managing Editor Marcy Boyce
City Editor JaneG. Brust
Asst. City Editor Kathy O’Connell
Photo Editor DaveEinsel
Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
Asst. Focus Editor Debbie Nelson
News Editors Phyllis Henderson
Bernie Fette, Belinda McCoy
Diana Siiltenfuss
StaffWriters Gary Barker
Frank L. Christlieb, Randy Clements
Gaye Denley, Nancy Floeck, Tim Foarde
Colette Hutchings, Daniel Puckett
Denise Richter, Mary Jo Rummel, Rick Stolle
Nancy Weatherley, Barbie Woelfel
Cartoonist . Scott McCullar
Graphic Artist. Richard DeLeon Jr.
Photographers Brian Tate
Daniel Sanders, Colin Valentine
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Questions or comments concerning any editorial matter
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Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and are
not subject to the same length constraints as letters.
Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The
Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843.
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Cannons blazing to the right
of them, fiddles on their left
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The album “Hooked
on Classics” offers a smorgasbord of snip
pets from just about all of the major war-
horses of “serious” music. One six-minute
segment contains excerpts from no less than
17 different compositions.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has
done a fine job of splicing the whole mess
together. The use of Tchaikovsky’s “Piano
Concerto No. T to presage Rimsky-
Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” was
especially inspired. But the point on which
I wish to commend the orchestra was its
restraint in not using cannons during a little
dab of the “1812 Overture. ”
Any symphonic group named the Royal
Philharomic presumbly would have shot
English cannons. And English cannons are
notoriously difficult to keep in tune.
Although the passage shaved from the
overture lasted only a few seconds, even a
few seconds of untuned cannons can seem
an eternity.
I have in my record collection an “1812
Overture” that unfailingly leaves me badly
unstrung. It makes use of what is identified
in the album notes as the “Carroll cannon. ”
An arranger, like the challenged party in
a duel, is entitled to choose his weapons, I
suppose. But, possibly because of an injudi
cious use of gunpowder, the Carroll cannon
is at least a half-note flat.
For a true connoisseur, that spoils the
entire effect.
Hearing its ill-tuned detonations makes
one appreciate all the more the Royal
Philharmonic’s discretion in cuing its tim
pani section, rather than the real thing,
when cannon booms were in order.
It is true that Tchaikovsky’s celebration
of the Russian victory over Napoleon was
originally scored for orchestra, cannon and
church bells. But any good percussionist
will tell you a kettle-drum is much easier to
tune than a cannon.
Add to that the fact that the pacifist
movement has inhibited the
young cannoneers. I doubt there arei!
dozen artillerymen in all England win
tune a cannon to concert hall stand®
Their tempo is good, sure. En
non players keep right on the
leying and thundering in cadencewiflj
rest of the orchestra. But when it com
pitch, well, that is another story.
Not surprisingly, many of today’s!
class cannon players are Russians,
have tradition on their side, andthesi
ist system abets their careers.
Soviet artillery instructors keeps
out for students with unusual
Those displaying music talent area
to state orchestras for seasoning,
wonder that once they maketheiro
debuts, they give virtuoso perfon
All of which underscores the'
the Royal Idiilharomic s orchestration.!
less the conductor could have signed!
Soviet defector to sit on on cannoj
“1812” barrage was better left i
Falling mortgage rate is
Jenny Say
Your
V
a
It’s your turn
Stolen pack contains plane ticket
Editor:
I was in the library Tuesday afternoon in
th$ periodicals department when my back
pack was stolen. I am from Puerto Rico. My
plane ticket home was in my backpack. I
have no money to buy another one and I
must get home by December 18, because
my wife is expecting our baby. If anyone
knows the whereabouts of my backpack,
please contact me at 779-7749 or the travel
agency in the Memorial Student Center.
gerous spot is the cross-walk between G.
Rollie White and Mount Aggie. A great deal
of people cross the road in this area going to
and from P.E. I have seen numerous cars
fail to yield on this busy street. I’m not
bitching about cars being on campus, be
cause I also drive. I would just like to re
mind people to slow down. Let’s not have
an unfortunate accident.
By JOI
Traveling
>stly as it s
as a chanc
That w;
Europe oi
resented
littee an<
)ffice.
Tom
ravel, sai
ware of s
Europe —
>f laundry
juency of
verything
>ank is ne
Ryan
Ruben Medina
814 Gordon
Scott Ortolon
1601 Holleman
abuse and cruelty beyond description,!
listened while grown men have criedtli ised, the
selves to sleep at night due to lonelii
and have even seen a person hang hirP"
because his girlfriend left him. Eacliif
look into the faces of hate and mistrusll
everything and anything with no outV
for the future.
I have learned more about life, ink
than any classroom or textbook
Lost keys
More copiers
Editor:
At the Off-Campus street dance, held on
the evening of Nov. 14, I was acting as one
of the hosts of the affair. During the course
of the evening I lost a large ring of keys in
the parking lot area. The loss of these keys
represents a very large monetary loss for
me as well as a tremendous inconvenience
in replacing them. Having exhausted all
other means of recovering them, I now ask
that you inform the student body that
there is a $50 reward for the return of my
keys.
Anyone with such a group of keys should
turn them into the main desk at the MSC
along with their name and address so that I
may contact them and forward the reward.
Editor:
Isn’t it about time that those in charge of
the University copiers realize that they do
not have near enough copiers scattered
around campus. Seldom does a person find
a copier that is not in use, even the most
hidden copiers usually have a line behind
them. Five cents a copy is a great deal, but
not so great a deal when you have to wait in
line for 30 minutes and then your copies are
too light to read. Come on, GIVE US
MORE COPIERS!
taught me. The most important thingjf
learned is the love is much stronger
hate. With love, one has meaning in
With hate, one merely exists around
borders of life.
I’m sure I’ll be much wiser when
released from here and return honif
Texas, but more important thanthate«
I’ll come out with the attitude that ft
life, not vice versa!
I have no way of knowing if this k
will ever be printed but I truly praynoi
there has to learn about life in this rvaj
Alfred John Grew® s .
81*
Attica,
Tim Loan ’85
Letters policy
Hard lesson
Forgetful Ag
Traffic danger
Editor:
Something has to be done about the auto
mobile traffic on campus. In general, most
automobiles respect the right of pedes
trians, but not all do. One particularly dan-
Editor:
This may well be the most unusual letter
you’ll ever read from anyone doing time in
prison.
I am presently serving 18 months in the
infamous Attica Prison because I got drunk
and broke into a bar and opened it for busi
ness. I was attending college at the time and
was an English major with a 3.96 average. I
could have received probation but chose
prison so I could do my time and be free
with no strings attached.
Since I have been here. I’ve witnessed
Letters to the Editor should not exceed
words in length, and are subject to ft
cut if they are longer. The editorials
reserves the right to edit letters for sf
and length, but will make every (
maintain the author’s intent. Each k®
must also be signed, show the address
phone number of the writer.
Articles for Reader’s Forum are also* 1
come, and are not subject to the $
length constraints as letters. Address all
quiries and correspondence to: Editor. 1
Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald,
A&M University, College Station
77843.