Monday, October 13, 2008

Charting the financial market meltdown

The following chart is an attempt (albeit a tongue-in-cheek one) to illustrate what happened when a lot of people got mortgages they couldn't afford, which some "clever" bankers and brokers bundled up in pretty packages and passed along to eager investment banks and hedge funds, who then passed them along to so-called "sophisticated investors" (like state pension funds) -- and what happened when the housing/real estate bubble finally burst.

Note 1: If you would like more information about Collateralized Debt Obligations or CDOs, click here; for more on Collateralized Mortgage Obligations or CMOs, click here. Just don't expect to be enlightened. (Btw, If you have some brilliant idea where to insert AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the federal government and the SEC, not that there is much room, leave me a Comment.)

Note 2: The spouse and I have many acquaintances, friends and family members who are lawyers and accountants and/or work in the financial and insurance industries. In fact, some of the nicest people we know work in those industries or are lawyers or accountants.

Note 3: If you cannot read this chart, simply click on it to get a larger view.






















As many of you already know, over the weekend the White House was retooling the "Rescue" Plan -- and today the Treasury and Federal Reserve were meeting with “leading financial market participants” to finalize details on a market stabilization initiative, according to a Treasury spokeswoman. What this means for you and me, dear reader, is anyone's guess. However, I predict the market will either end up or down this week.

UPDATED 10/14/08: Well, the market closed up by over 900 points yesterday and looks to have another up day today. So I'm guessing there will be a collective case of economic amnesia -- and no one will give a s**t about my beautiful chart. Btw, for another take on where all the money that was "lost" in the market went, check out this article on MSNBC called "Where did all that 'lost' money go?"

No comments: