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There was demand for debt, because it was the raw material debt-backed securities were made of. So companies were working much harder to convince consumers to g
by dpapathanasiou 18y ago
There was demand for debt, because it was the raw material debt-backed securities were made of. So companies were working much harder to convince consumers to get into it.
Is that really a revelation?
Financial firms have been doing this for years now (debt-backed securities were originated in the 1980s), and the pitches to consumers have been incessant, just look at all the credit card and loan offers people get every week.
- pg 18y agoIt was news to me, actually. I thought the credit card companies just wanted to get lots of nearly insolvent customers because they were old fashioned loan sharks, not because they wanted to resell their debt as securities.
- dpapathanasiou 18y agoIf you're interested in that period on Wall Street (i.e., when debt-backed securities came into vogue), Michael Lewis wrote an interesting book about it: http://www.amazon.com/Liars-Poker-Rising-Through-Wreckage/dp/0140143459 http://www.amazon.com/Liars-Poker-Rising-Through-Wreckage/dp...