[Mo_Gearhead]

The Senate hearings for G/S are just another attempt to make 'Wall Street' out to be the big-bad-boogie-man in the eyes of the general public. They make it sound as if Goldman was selling these 'bundled securities' to Maw and Pa Kettle in Podunk, Arkansas - and thus 'tricking' some poor innocent investors.

I don't know how much money we are talking about (in these individual bundled groups of mortgages) - tens of thousand ...hundreds of thousands ...millions? But I suspect the latter. These were not bought by some rube trying to up his portfolio
from penny stocks. When securities of this magnitude ($$) swap hands, we are talking about individuals/firms that are taking risks. Every share traded on the Exchanges daily has a buyer and a seller, each one thinking they are doing the right thing. Some (including several on this BB ) predicted that housing was a bubble - while MANY thought it was a free ticket to riches. We found out who was correct.

As I stated on another thread; If I place several types of dog shyte in a paper bag and price it - and you present yourself as an expert on dog shyte and purchase it from me - who's the larger fool?