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To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (40878)10/28/2008 4:43:57 PM
From: T L Comiskey  Respond to of 149317
 
60 Minutes..

CDS

cbsnews.com



To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (40878)10/28/2008 4:49:26 PM
From: LLCF  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 149317
 
<mark to market along with swaps were the real culprits here.>

Remember all securites used to be "marked to market" when they traded on exchanges. This business of marking to market ONLY CAME UP with the explosion of OTC securites that weren't exchange listed.

If they had been "marked to market" all along then the risk parameters implied by the volitility inherent in the bids and offers for such securites 'should' have meant much less leverage employed in ownin them.

Yea, "swaps", "swaptions", all forms of leveraged contracts that most had little understanding of should never have been owned by most those who owned them.

No doubt banksters held tasty looking historical returns in front of their faces to entice all sorts of funds who had no business dealing in them.

DAK



To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (40878)10/28/2008 6:02:05 PM
From: RetiredNow  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 149317
 
Not sure when it was implemented, but it's a little crazy. When you have an illiquid market, assets lose value very quickly. So mark to market because less of a reasonable way to do accounting. Mark to market only makes sense in truly liquid markets.



To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (40878)10/28/2008 6:04:00 PM
From: tejek  Respond to of 149317
 
I read they started using mark to market back in the early 80s.



To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (40878)10/28/2008 6:43:26 PM
From: koan  Respond to of 149317
 
Re mark to market, it was my understanding it sort of just happened overnight. When some banks quit using other banks CDO's for collarteral evryone stopped loaning and the problem skyrocketed in just a few days, I think.



To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (40878)10/28/2008 7:23:12 PM
From: tejek  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 149317
 
Mark-to-market accounting

en.wikipedia.org