[lbo-talk] Where's Waldo?

[joanna]

Sabri Oncu used to be an LBO'ster some five years ago. He was a 
mathematician ( pretty advanced) who fed his family by working for 
finance wizards of one sort or another. Some five years ago we had a 
long coffee date in Berkeley, where he tried to explain to me how 
utterly frightening the repackaging and expansion of debt in America was 
...and how he had been hired by a variety of firms to figure out what 
the risks and the magnitude of leverage and ....all the variables of 
these transactions were....and how they were going to affect the market. 
This was for people who wanted to bet on the outcome. And, he said, 
there was no way to figure that out. No way to comprehend the magnitude 
and the consequences of the fancy financial instruments. Sabri was a 
manly man type, and I'll always remember the conversation for his 
obvious anxiety and frustration.

The chickens are starting to come home to roost. Let's recall that the 
ARM's are just starting to reset, with many more resetting in the next 
year and a half. Anyway, check it out. Where is Waldo?

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/17/magazines/fortune/gross_column.fortune/index.htm?cnn=patrick.net

Joanna