dow in for a mauling tonight, page-27

all about "sub prime" which has become code for orgy of mortgage backed securitization that has occured in american during the past 3 years.

my understanding is close to 1 trillion dollars of questionable mortgages were packaged into securities and sold to investors. anyone out there correct me if i'm wrong.

ASSUMING that 25% of this is unrecoverable means 250 million usd has to be accounted for on bank balance sheets.

i've been trying to keep score. to this point banks have fessed up to about 50 billion.

so, long way to go yet before the dust settles and clarity returns

btw, love how officials like paulson dismiss the suffering of ordinary folk who lose everything when foreclosure strikes but scream bloody murder when the effects hit their banking buddies.

my sense is we will need to see at least one major bank cease to exist before the mending process can begin