Opinion

To the editor: My compliments to Brenda Kelley Kim for her article entitled "Words matter" in the Marblehead Current of Nov. 30. Her story about her father reminds me of my father; he once advised me, "Say what you mean, and mean what you say.” He gave me that advice only once, long ago, but I still remember it. He was well respected in Sherborn, where we lived, and he served as town moderator there for many years. Tim Parker Arthur Avenue

I have read and heard several comments suggesting that the increase in the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) this year has been a direct result of the increase in the Federal Reserve's Fed Funds rate (FF). This is not correct. As I will demonstrate, the FRM is determined by market forces, and in particular by the extra yield—the "spread"—which investors require when buying pools of mortgages (mortgage-backed securities, or MBS), as compared with the risk-free yield available with the 10-year Treasury note (10T), which has the nearest duration to the expected life of a pool of mortgages. In contrast, the FF is the rate that banks use when setting their prime rates. When the FF increases, banks increase their prime Rates and therefore the interest rate on those loans whose rates ar...

Marblehead is a small peninsula surrounded by ocean, with a large, deep safe harbor, and sheltering offshore islands. These are the physical elements that have always made Marblehead a desirable place to live and work. There is some evidence that Vikings fished here along the North Shore, and European explorers, trappers and adventurers came to the area in the late 1500s. Englishman John Smith mapped the coastline in 1616 and was the first to call the region “New England.” Geography has defined Marblehead’s settlement; its growth and personality are based on its location.  English explorer John Smith mapped the region, naming it New England in 1616. Before recorded history, the first known inhabitants of North America were Native Americans. It is acknowledged that the lan...