Just like that, school is back in session.  It was a great summer vacation!  Our family did a lot of fun things and I enjoyed sleeping in on a regular basis, staying up late, and relaxing a lot more.  But now it’s time to get back on a schedule.  It’s also time to pay the credit card bill for all the back-to-school shopping that was required to get four boys outfitted for learning.  As a nation, our back-to-school spending will hit $83.6 billion this year, a marked increase from last year’s $75.8 billion in clothes, shoes, pencils, and paper.

Mortgage bonds are trading sideways, keeping interest rates steady.