Consumer Law

Toxie's Dead

By Brian Wolfman

If you were listening to NPR this morning, you would have heard that Toxie the Toxic Asset has died. The folks at NPR's Planet Money had purchased for $1,000 (and a 99% discount!) a bundle of mortgages whose values had dropped precipitously in the financial crisis. Did Planet Money make money? Listen to the whole story here. Here's the story's intro:

Toxie, Planet Money's pet toxic asset, died this week. She was killed by one of the worst housing busts in U.S. history. Toxic assets ? bundles of mortgages that Wall Street sliced up and sold to investors ? were at the center of the financial crisis.  When the housing market tanked, no one wanted to own them. That's when we bought one. When we bought Toxie, in January of this year, she seemed like a great deal.  We paid $1,000. That was 99 percent less than she cost during the housing boom. Every month, when homeowners paid their mortgages, we got a check. We thought we'd make back our investment before she died. But in the end, we collected only $449. It was never really about the money, though. And now that Toxie's gone, we'd like to take a few moments to remember her, and hear from those she?s touched.

An NPR listener also composed a song about Toxie!

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on September 24, 2010 (boomark / email).