
Crisis explainer: Uncorking CDOs
3 years ago
Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch gives a bubbly explanation of the intricacies of “collateralized debt obligations” – those financial instruments that got us into this financial mess. More coverage of the financial crisis at Marketplace.org
M4V
00:06:07
3 Related collections
| Date | Plays | Likes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 70.9K | 62 | 9 |
| Feb 14th | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Feb 13th | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Feb 12th | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Feb 11th | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Feb 10th | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Feb 9th | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| Feb 8th | 22 | 0 | 0 |
-
Vimeo: About / Blog / Developers / Jobs /
Community Guidelines /
Help Center / Video School / Music Store / Site Map
/ Vimeo
or
-
Legal: TM + ©2012 Vimeo, LLC. All rights reserved. / Terms of Service / Privacy Statement / Copyright

Prev week
Thank you.
Estelle
After watching this video explanation, there seem to be three culprits:
a) People who defaulted on their mortgages
b) Investment bankers who repackaged worthless securities and sold them off as safe (e.g., AAA)
c) the investment ratings companies who didn't do their jobs and let the executives in "B" sell poor investments as good
In the above scenario, executives in B and C should go to jail, in my opinion. A fiduciary relationship was abused.
Also, perhaps it would be helpful for the audience to know how this affects the banks that are involved - write-downs on these securitizations, etc.
You put your finger on it. How did they get away with selling that second pyramid of securities (and believe it or not, some bright sparks actually sold a third pyramid!)?
The answer is: bond insurance! Yes, they insured the bonds with companies like Ambac and MBIA.....and we all know what happened there. In the end, as the securities sputtered, the pressure ratcheted up on the insurance companies until they were unable to honor those contracts.