Roy Lotz

Despite a flattering supposition to the contrary, people come readily to terms with power. There is little reason to think that the power of the great bankers, while they were assumed to have it, was much resented. But as the ghosts of numerous tyrants, from Julius Caesar to Benito Mussolini will testify, people are very hard on those who, having had power, lose it or are destroyed. Then anger at past arrogance is joined with contempt for present weakness.

Synthetic CDOs were complex paper transactions involving credit default swaps. Unlike the traditional CDO, synthetic CDOs contained no actual tranches of mortgage-backed securities, or even tranches of other CDOs. Instead, they simply referenced these mortgaged securities and were thus bets on whether borrowers would pay their mortgages.

Synthetic CDOs were complex paper transactions involving credit default swaps. Unlike the traditional CDO, synthetic CDOs contained no actual tranches of mortgage-backed securities, or even tranches of other CDOs. Instead, they simply referenced these mortgaged securities and were thus bets on whether borrowers would pay their mortgages.

Perhaps it will surprise—or annoy—some readers that, on occasion [it was more than occassional!], I have included long quotations. This was a conscious decision, motivated by my desire to recover voices that are often lost, save for the memory offered by history—to give constancy to words, to writings, of some of the protagonists of my reconstruction.