"Toxic Asset" Is a Stupid Expression
"Toxic Asset?" Is that like a healthy cigarette?
An asexual prostitute? A welcome bullet in the gut? WTF?
If it's toxic, it's a liability, OK? Isn't that completely obvious to everyone, or am I the only one who sees this absurd meme for what it is? An asset that is "toxic" belongs on the "Liability" side of the "T," and nobody should be paying anything for it, least of all taxpayers.
The false notion that these "toxic assets" are the mortgages themselves also makes me cranky as hell, too. They are not the mortgages. The bad mortgages are worth maybe five percent of the loss represented by the so-called "toxic assets." Taxpayers are not being asked to buy the mortgages and underlying real estate; we are being asked to purchase the utterly moronic derivatives contracts -- costing many times what the mortgages themselves are worth -- that served as insurance and re-insurance and re-re-insurance on the bad mortgages. AIG is an insurer, not an issuer of mortgages.
It's as if somebody owed 20 bucks, and you paid them 20 bucks for the privilege of paying back the 20 bucks that they owe. That's what's happening here. It's robbery, and we should not pay these parasites one more dime. We should let the "financial system" burn and build something better in its place. Why the hell should I care about the "financial system?" What good has it done me?
Everybody's worried about their 401(k), but nothing would be better for your 401(k) than to purge the "toxic assets" by letting the dinosaurs fail. Sure, you lose a little in the short run, but the real parts of the economy -- you know, the ones where people provide actual goods and services -- will recover.
Investors who make bad calls should just man up and fail. If these people are put out of their mansions and forced to send their kids to public schools, that would be capitalism's finest hour.
Let the "toxic assets" be the flea powder that gets these parasites off our back, not the means by which they suck the last of our blood.
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Comments
#1 Toxic Asset is an Oxymoron
The more I hear the term "toxic asset", the more irritating it becomes. In simple terms, something is either an asset or a liability. An asset is a positive thing. A liability is negative. A toxic asset is not an asset, it is a liability. I am very surprised people are buying this garbage. The politicians are trying to make their plans look good, when in fact, they are trying to get us to be happy about using our tax dollars to buy a load of garbage. I understand that they feel as though they need to do something, but I have a gnawing feeling that this will not solve any of the problems. The problems are caused by greed, overconsumption, and over-borrowing. The government is just prolonging the inevitable if they continue to prop up the system as it is. By encouraging people to borrow, they are further encouraging the very behavior that created this mess.
I do hope that they can get some programs off the ground for creating jobs through manufacturing, clean energy, etc. I just can't really see how it will work though, since the US is in so much debt. Too bad most people didn't save during the good times to anticipate the bad. Well, I am going to make sure I plant a big garden, quit buying stuff, and hope for the best.
#2 Toxic Assets
It's a good name for an old-school 70's-era punk band.
Like Poison Pill.
-Stewart http://us.imdb.com/Name?Stewart+Dickson