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To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (344981)	10/5/2007 10:52:43 AM
From: stan_hughes	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

That's a very interesting confirmation of similar things I've been seeing -- the following is copied from a recent email exchange -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On 10/2/07, Stan Hughes <XXXXXXXXX@XXXXXX.com> wrote: On the subject of where is all the crap stashed that we're still waiting to see blow up, and how long before some high-profile pension fund comes out of the CDO closet -- I found the following lament on a message board this morning that I can't post a direct link to, so here's the cut & paste version -- some interesting details in here -- It is interesting that you bring this up. In this forum there might not be that many who have stayed up on closed end mutual funds but I have been examining some of my families retirement accounts and found some NASTY surprises. Charles Schwab's PCRA account has their recommended list of open ended mutual funds. In looking for commodity exposure I found that commodity mutual funds have become RMBS or Treasury funds: Oppenheimer Commodity Strat Total Ret A - Nine of its top 10 holdings are debt instruments with 6 of them mortgage backed. PIMCO CommodityRealRet Strat - 9 of its top 10 holdings are treasuries or mtg backed. BlackRock Commodity Strategies - This ones a beauty - Nine of its top 10 holdings (making up 54.7% of assets) are mtg backed from lenders like Impac, Accredited & Freemont. The one asset that isn't mtg backed is a credit default swap. Credit Suisse Commodity Return Strat - All top 10 mtg backed. Now you could say that significant risk could be expected because you are investing in commodity funds (or so they are named). But what really opened my eyes was when I looked through my mothers AIG/VALIC 403b plan. Her plan limits her to AIG/VALIC funds. Below are her only bond fund investment choices. AIG Capital Conservation Fund - It is billed as "Investment Grade" at the top of the prospectus. Retirement account, a fund named "Capital conservation", you would think treasuries, investment grade corporates, right? - 38.85% of assets are in CMO/MBS's - 12.43% are in junk bonds AIG Government Securities Fund - 44.88% Mtg backed - 4.37% Corporate - 7.86% "Other" - which I can't be positive of but after digging a bit it appears to be a lot of private mtg securities. AIG Core bond fund - Investment grade - 40.59% of assets in CMO/MBS's - 9.24% in Junk bonds A bankrupt Social Security, underfunded corporate pensions, and now MBS's in the 401k's. The concept of a comfortable retirement just went kaput.