November 12, 2008, 2:00 pm
Crisis Metaphors
by Henry Woodbury
Filed under: Business, Current Events, Visual Explanation
To explain the baffling complexity of the current U.S. and global financial crisis, Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch has become a man of metaphors.
Here, he explains CDOs (Collaterized Debt Obligations) as a champagne fountain.
Other videos in this series include The credit crisis as Antarctic expedition, and Margin calls and the financial markets decline with girl scout cookies and barbie dolls as collateral.
Also recommended is Michael Lewis’s old-fashioned personality-based history of the CDO crash. As Hirsch demystifies the transactions that fueled the crisis, Michael Lewis tracks down those responsible. His article is simply titled “The End.”
Comments
Mint.com’s blog features a “Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis” that explains how it all happened and how CDOs fit into the mix. See: http://blog.mint.com/blog/finance-core/a-visual-guide-to-the-financial-crisis/
Posted by Lisa Agustin on November 14, 2008 at 11:14 am