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Collateralized Debt Obligation
Welcome to the major leagues of debt. Collateralized debt obligations, almost always referred to as a CDOs, are horrendously complicated deals that often leave anyone without a MBA wondering what was put into these CDOs.
The first thing to understand about bonds, (aka debt) is that bonds are often backed by something else. Think about your home mortgage. If you don’t pay your mortgage, the bank can take the house. You end up homeless, and the bank sells the house to pay off the rest of that mortgage. There is something “backing” that mortgage; something lender can fall back on, if you don’t pay your bills like a good human being. That’s called collateral.
CDOs are one flavor of an entire sector of investing called structured finance, and they are also backed. CDOs, in the simplest concept, are just bonds backed by something else. In most cases, a CDO is backed by a collection of various types of debt. CDOs can be home mortgages, or other types of debt like credit cards, auto loans, and personal loans. Most of these types of debt are usually considered a bit more risky and they don’t have the backing that a home loan does. So, if you think it through, you can imagine that CDOs are usually considered a risky investment.
To take a step further, understand that CDOs have multiple flavors within each CDO. These flavors are called tranches. If you’ve taken French, you might recognize the word, it means “slice” or “portion.” Each slice of that CDO you invest in is a little different and carries different amounts of risk.
You could invest in the lowest risk tranche of the CDO, which would provide you lower risk. But, you don’t get a good return on that investment. Or, you can be the heroic adventurer of bonds and invest in the lowest-grade tranche of the CDO. You’ll make an amazing return, but if the economy even looks at you wrong, you might lose the entire investment.

foxbusiness.com

By TOM HESTER Jr. – Mar 15, 2008
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — In New Jersey, the governor’s e-mails might shed light on whether he inappropriately conferred with a labor leader he once dated. In Detroit, the mayor’s text messages revealed a sexually charged scandal. In California, a fight rages for access to e-mails sent by a city councilwoman about a controversial biological laboratory.
Even the White House has been under pressure from Democrats in Congress over its problem-plagued e-mail system.
While e-mail and text messaging has become a hugely popular way to communicate throughout society, governments at all levels are often unwilling to let the public see the e-mails of their elected officials.
Officially, e-mails in all but a handful of states are treated like paper documents and subject to Freedom of Information requests. But most of these states have rules allowing them to choose which e-mails to turn over, and most decide on their own when e-mail records are deleted.
“There seems to be an attitude throughout government — at all levels — that somehow electronic communications are of its own kind and not subject to the laws in the way that print communications are,” said Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org.
“So we keep hearing reports of governors and mayors who decree that their e-mail records can be destroyed, in six weeks or six months, with no appraisal for permanent value and no review by an independent body,” she said.
Open records advocates contend by keeping electronic communications private, states are giving their elected officials an avenue to operate in secret — they use taxpayer-funded computers to send and receive e-mail but with little or no obligation to make such communications public.
“The public needs to realize that is their possibility for accountability and historical review that is being put through the electronic shredder,” McDermott said.

ap.google.com

DUBLIN, March 13 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in Ireland’s newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy.
- The UNHCR is seeking substantial amendment of the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill currently before the Oireachtas.
- The Garda Ombudsman Commission has asked the government to give it the power to opt out of fully investigating some of the public’s complaints against gardai, The Irish Times has learned.
- Permanent tsb has suspended its 100 percent mortgages and cut the maximum loan it will offer on investment properties to 80 percent of the property’s value from 90 percent due to the slowdown in the housing market.
- Gardai have recommended that criminal charges be brought against several people in connection with the death of the model Katy French. Continued…

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You know, I spent two weeks trying to figure out how to justify writing an entire column about the series finale of “The Wire” on this site. You won’t believe this, but I try my best to keep my topics appropriate for the venue.
So I thought about comparing and contrasting Wire creator David Simon to Sopranos inventor David Chase. It’s the equivalent of debating Kobe vs. LeBron. Like Kobe, there’s no hole in Simon’s game. And like LeBron, if you catch Chase on a night when his jumper isn’t falling, you’ll wonder why, with his body, he never developed a low-post game and go-to move.
Ah, everybody is writing Kobe-LeBron. The subject matter is just too trite.
By Wednesday afternoon, I’d come up with an angle more substantial, more consistent with the gritty, serious tone of The Wire. When I informed my bosses, they broke the news to me that The Sports Guy had already beaten me to it.
He’d penned a terrific piece that at the end connected “The Wire” to the tragic death of Jamiel Shaw, the 17-year-old prep football star gunned down just a few blocks from his Los Angeles home.
You know what? No problem. It ties into the point I wanted to make.

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Levi Strauss has snubbed Christchurch's suburban malls, deciding instead to open its first city store in the central business district.
It is the second chain in recent weeks to open its first Christchurch store in the central city, an area which has suffered from fierce competition from the malls.
Nood, New Objects of Desire, a store created by Kathmandu founder Jan Cameron, opened in Cashel Street occupying a space that had been empty for some time.
Levi's brand director Steve Williams, speaking from Melbourne, said the central city was an important destination and the hub of the city.
"The location ticked the boxes of having the foot traffic we required, the right type of demographic, as well as the right type of retailers in that strip."
Wellington businessman Barrie Thomas owns the Levi's franchise rights for New Zealand and Australia.
He also owns the franchise for The Body Shop's 26 New Zealand stores and was involved in opening 75 Body Shops across Australia.
Levi's plans to open between 25 and 30 stores across New Zealand and Australia during the next three years.
Williams said he envisaged New Zealand having six Levi's stores, but it would depend on finding the right sites.
The High Street store in Christchurch was the company's second in New Zealand. It already has one store in Wellington.
"Rather than take any old site that comes up it's important we take sites in key shopping locations, whether they be strip shops or enclosed malls."
Central City Business Association manager Paul Lonsdale hopes the new shops will encourage more people back to the city centre.
"They add a new element to the city, which is important. It's great to see them coming in here rather than the shopping centres."
The shops helped revitalise the area, he said.
Malls like Riccarton, Northlands and The Palms had all spent between $80 million and $130m on upgrades, yet the central city had been left to its own devices for ever, Lonsdale said.
It was going to take a while to get people coming back to shop in the city, he said.
The association had identified key issues which would get people back, including car parking, security, cleaning and regulated shopping hours.
Lonsdale represents 171 property owners and 450 businesses between Hereford, Manchester and Lichfield streets and Oxford Terrace.
He was also working on a leasing strategy to make sure adjoining shops were compatible. "There's nothing worse than having a really nice high fashion sector of town and shoving in a $2 shop next door," Lonsdale said.

stuff.co.nz