But that's exactly my point
At the end of that "revenue stream" is a little old lady who could die, get her pension cut, be forced into greater poverty by inflation, lose her husband. She defaults, no more revenue stream. It's the extreme example, but one which was repeated enough times with other debts and cirumstances to bring down all these "Investments".

To consider it as a revenue stream is fine - that's what it is. To consider it as an asset which can be sold at a profit, then consolodated and resold, then bartered for on the open market is madness.

Picture it not as a set of loans, picture it as a bet on the economy increasing in size at a rate of, say 3% a year. And picture it so close to the wire because of the continual bartering that a growth of only 2% can shake it.

Picture those loans as secured against houses, where if the bank forcloses it can sell the house - except it can't, because no one can afford them. But then again, if you default on a debt which has been sold, broken, joined, resold, buried in soft peat for 5 years and resold as firelighters, who sells the house, who gets the money from the sale and does it cover the debt?
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Wed 16 Jun 2010, 12:24, 1 reply)

I shouldn't be doing this today
I'm far, far too busy.

Seriously, go watch "Money as Debt".

Been fun though :-)
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Wed 16 Jun 2010, 12:26, closed)