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Yossel
10 Comments
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I share your frustration and anger, but the answer is more complicated than program trading -- though that plays a major role in swift downdrafts. The fundamental flaw in the credit market was first described by a man named Ponzi. Mortgages are bundled and sold as a mixed bag with an attractive return on a putative price. That original price changes with the changing ability/willingness of the underlyting mortgage holders to honor their debts. But the credit market fails to indicate that changing value accurately (failing to "mark to market"). Meanwhile, the original bundles of mortgages are used as collateral for additional borrowing -- at their originbal putative face value. So you get an inverted pyramid of escalating debt bult on the foundation of an asset that is not marked to market, and asset whose value is in fact deteriorating. At some point, a kid in the crowd points out that the Emperor clothes are fast disappearing, i.e. that the value of the asset is crumbling, and the whole pyramid crumbles with it. That is horrible news for thosed leveraged into the pyramid's upper tiers. It's devastating for those who are going to lose their homes. But its not something the Fed can or should try to fix. When it runs its course, the equities market, which had nothing to do the the debacle except so far as in reflecting the values of the homes, the builders, and the morgage buyers, will stop acting irrationally and return to the normalcy of reflecting the strength or weakness of the underlying economy and the profit or loss of its corporate players. For those leveraged on equities rather than bonds, like me, the catch is that the market can act irratioinally longer than I can stay solvent. But so far its early days.