If These Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) and Other Questionable Assets Have Value Then...

[Yavin4]

Why do they need the govt. to bail them out? There are trillions of investment dollars out there in the world hungry for a return. From national sovreign wealth funds of the oil producing nations and China to hedge funds, all of these folks pay highly intelligent and well educated people to scour the globe looking for a positive return on investment.

If these assets have value, then why can't they be sold somewhere else?

[rzemanfl]

1. Now works for me. I rode six miles on a bike and sat almost

six hours in the sun today to see the next President, so I doubt I can stay up until nine.

[gopbuster]

2. I don't think we are getting the whole truth

I think the MBS a generalized term they are using to mask the fact that their problem really lies in the shadow banking system laden with exotic securities and derivatives which is a bottomless pit. A 62 trillion dollar market unraveling.

So far all I hear is generalizations and no specifics from Bernanke and Paulson with Reps and Senators not asking the right questions.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/622acc9e-87f1-11dd-b114-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1

We are observing an accelerated run on the shadow banking system that is leading to its unravelling. If lender-of-last-resort support and deposit insurance are extended to more of its members, these institutions will have to be regulated like banks, to avoid moral hazard. Of course this severe financial crisis is also taking its toll on traditional banks: hundreds are insolvent and will have to close.

The real economic side of this financial crisis will be a severe US recession. Financial contagion, the strong euro, falling US imports, the bursting of European housing bubbles, high oil prices and a hawkish European Central Bank will lead to a recession in the eurozone, the UK and most advanced economies.

European financial institutions are at risk of sharp losses because of the toxic US securitised products sold to them; the massive increase in leverage following aggressive risk-taking and domestic securitisation; a severe liquidity crunch exacerbated by a dollar shortage and a credit crunch; the bursting of domestic housing bubbles; household and corporate defaults in the recession; losses hidden by regulatory forbearance; the exposure of Swedish, Austrian and Italian banks to the Baltic states, Iceland and southern Europe where housing and credit bubbles financed in foreign currency are leading to hard landings.

Thus the financial crisis of the century will also envelop European financial institutions.

[gopbuster]

3. If the Government will hold the bailout to only purchasing the

1st layer of MBS bundles and specifically not purchase the exotics is what I would like to see for the taxpayer. But so far I've heard no specifics.

In my opinion

[sniffa]

4. They currently have no value. Zip. Zero. Nada.

That's why they're not being sold.

[Junkdrawer]

5. First of all, it's bait-and-switch...They talk mortgages but they also...

want to buyout credit card debt.

As for mortgages, they've combined and cut so many bad and good mortgages together that they say they need the Feds to buy it up and sort it out. I've been recommending that the Feds offer a free cleanup service, but not actually buy the junk.