"They took a several pieces of shit and made a pile"

[swag]

atrios boils down the subprime/banking/CDO mess:

This WSJ article about one chunk of big shitpile is pretty fascinating. A reasonably accurate shorter version is that they took a several pieces of shit and made a pile, convinced the ratings agencies that the pile of shit was much less risky than the individual pieces of shit were, and then sold the pile again and again using the magic of derivatives.

[cloudbase]

1. Then served it up as a sandwich. n/t

[tom_paine]

3. And looted half a trillion dollars or more from the world.

The only things the Bushies are actually good at are the criminal things. And they are VERY good at those.

[Rex]

2. So true, shit is strong in numbers.

Just as long as it doesn't pile. Then it turns into a huge pile of shit.

[rdm]

4. The wind has been sown.... Prepare to reap the whirlwind.... eom

[gratuitous]

5. !

Pile a whole bunch of things together, and the details sort of get lost. Someone buys the big pile, and agglomerates it with a bunch of other piles, and allegedly savvy investors all take a chunk of the action, churns the pile, takes some of the value out of it, and sells it to some other savvy investors. Churn it a few more times, and pretty much all that's left is the shit. And suddenly the last guys in the line, as well as folks who didn't get out while the getting was good, are sitting on that big pile of shit.

And that's when the free marketeers, the rugged he-men like Alan Greenspan, start running to the government to bail them out. Relief for the folks stuck with those mortgages? Not a chance. But bail out the plungers and the greedheads? You betcha! It's the American way.

[swag]

6. Put one interest payment on a 3-mongh t-bill atop a pile of rotting carcasses

and you had a triple-A rating.

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal!

[soothsayer]

7. Eh, you buy one mortgage, maybe it will default and you'll lose your $. You buy 100 of them,

not all of them will default, so you'll still make money as an investor. Buy 1000 mortgages, same deal. Rinse and repeat.