Crisis? Throw a party !

[Capricious]

http://tinyurl.com/358cnz


"Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- They dubbed it ``The Survivors' Conference.'' In early November, 2,000 people who handle asset- backed securities for a living crowded into a ballroom at the JW Marriott hotel in Orlando, Florida, just 3 miles from Disney World, to hear speaker after speaker explain why 2008 may be their worst year ever...."




``These events tend to become deeper and play out longer than most people initially expect,'' says Michael Mayo, an analyst who covers securities firms at Deutsche Bank AG in New York. ``This is one of the slowest-moving train wrecks we've seen....''


``The collateral is not yet problematic,'' Whalen says. ``That's the next big shoe to drop.''

Whalen says defaults will soar as the rates of low-interest ``teaser'' mortgages held by borrowers with poor credit move up. At the end of August, about $46 billion in subprime loans, representing 225,000 homes, had defaulted, according to Credit Suisse Group. The number will more than triple to $143 billion by the middle of 2009, the bank forecasts. Total subprime loan defaults will top out at about $270 billion, or 1.52 million homes, in 2010 or later. ..."

 

[NotDeadYet]

``The collateral is not yet problematic,'' Whalen says. ``That's the next big shoe to drop.''

Don't you just love this line??






You need lots of popcorn when it is a "slow moving trainwreck."

 

[Capricious]

These finance guys have a fetish for shoes: witness
Bill Gross' (Pimco) reference to "six-inch hooker heels."



Now the talk is about 2010 and maybe beyond. So much
for a "turn-around" this Spring.



Oh, and just when you throught the news could not
get any worse:

http://tinyurl.com/36pubq

 

[SHELLY]

How is this for a visual:

At the conference in Orlando, investors concerned about another recession were in no mood for the usual festivities. The party thrown by Bear Stearns -- the first Wall Street bank to have a subprime blowup -- was almost empty at 9 p.m., with 10 people commiserating over beer and calypso music.

 

[Capricious]

"...was almost empty at 9 p.m., with 10 people commiserating over beer and calypso music. ..."



They should have listened to you Shelly and had better snacks

 

[Babyblue]

How is this for a visual:

At the conference in Orlando, investors concerned about another recession were in no mood for the usual festivities. The party thrown by Bear Stearns -- the first Wall Street bank to have a subprime blowup -- was almost empty at 9 p.m., with 10 people commiserating over beer and calypso music.

Free booze. That ant bad!