Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Idiot's guide to the subprime mess

Last summer a new word entered my English vocabulary: subprime. Here's one of the best presentations on the topic. Studying the subprime mess (yes, "mess" seems to be the word most often associated with my new English word of last summer) I came to the conclusion that sophisticated financial constructs may require a number of "quant" eggheads, crazy scientists taken out of their natural environments and a fair share of arrogant financiers, but at the end of the day some of the stuff they do just does not pass the test of mere common sense. Financiers sometimes behave like those alchemists of old times who had not understood the symbolic dimension of their quest and kept trying to turn lead into gold, except that most financiers of our times pursue no quest whatsoever.






2 comments:

  1. Now I get it! Thanks for sharing ;-)

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  2. De nada. Fortunately somebody did this in a very very brilliant and understandable way. I'm only the messenger :-)
    Take care David.

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