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'Betting Against the American Dream'

By Anonymous

An update from David Kestenbaum at Planet Money on their toxic asset: Toxie Update: Our Latest Check Arrives. Oh No.

As you know, we purchased our own toxic asset so we could watch it die.

And she, Toxie, is dying. We just got our latest monthly check, and it's for just $72.41.

We'd been hoping for about $180, but there's been less money coming in from those 2,000-plus mortgages. All the investors in this thing are basically standing in line to get paid. We're near the back of the line, so we take the hit.

But that's not the real problem.

Toxie soon will be actually wasting away. Every month some of the houses that had been foreclosed upon, actually get sold and sold for a loss. As those losses accumulate, Toxie shrinks and eventually there's nothing left.

Our online folks just updated the graphic. Check out the "how long we have left" bar chart. It looks like next month the losses will actually eat into our Toxie, and she'll start to shrink.

I've been thinking of this like we are standing in line to get paid. We're at the back of the line, and there's this monster eating the people behind us. Next month the monster starts chewing on our heels.

And some music ...

Bet Against the American Dream from Alexander Hotz

Full post as published by Calculated Risk on April 24, 2010 (boomark / email).