Confusion at the Transcript, Conspiracy at the NC Times

Submitted by Rich Toscano on August 16, 2007 - 11:19am

San Diego Daily Transcript executive editor George Chamberlin, previously criticized here for his dubious fact-checking skills, took a stab at the topic of Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) last week. The result was less than exemplary. From his Friday "Money in the Morning" column:

Blame it on CDOs of ABS. That is the source of the problems that are rocking the stock and bond markets around the world. Unless you are a really serious trader you've probably never heard of Collateralized Debt Obligations of Asset-backed Securities, but that [sic] the source of all of the consternation these days. In particular, hedge funds that have made leveraged, highly speculative bets on the subprime mortgage market. It really has little to do with the underlying loans, but rather the technique used by traders.

I'm not sure you need to be a "really serious trader" to have heard of CDOs. I don't even think you need to be a not-serious trader, or any kind of trader at all -- just someone who reads the news. We at voiceofsandiego.org, along with many mainstream media outlets (including the Transcript itself!) have been writing about them for quite a while now. Heck, they've even been written about in that sophisticated news source read exclusively by serious financial professionals: USA Today.

The "serious trader" line is funny; the last sentence in the paragraph is just outright wrong.

read more at voiceofsandiego.org

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By the way, why is
Submitted by CMcG on August 16, 2007 - 11:35am.

By the way, why is Chamberlin suddenly no longer doing "Money in the Morning" minutes on KOGO between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m.? Any ideas? He used to come on around 5:52 and then again at 6:22. This morning the earlier minute was replaced by the Wall Street Journal Report and the later one by Jeff Bellinger. Both of these contained dismal housing news (housing starts).

I checked the regular weekday schedule on KOGO and poof -- he's gone. Seems like he still has his weekend show, though.

"I checked the regular
Submitted by JWM in SD on August 16, 2007 - 12:50pm.

"I checked the regular weekday schedule on KOGO and poof -- he's gone. Seems like he still has his weekend show, though."

Yeah, well, maybe that will go poof too soon enough.

I usually see him on NBC
Submitted by Carlsbadliving on August 16, 2007 - 2:40pm.

I usually see him on NBC 7/39 in the morning and yesterday he said that he was taking off the rest of the week and would be back on Monday.

Carlsbad--thanks. It just
Submitted by CMcG on August 16, 2007 - 3:17pm.

Carlsbad--thanks. It just seemed odd to me that the morning crew on KOGO didn't say anything about where G.C. was. You know, "Substituting for George Chamberlin, who is on vacation, is Jeff Bellinger." That kind of thing.

On SDDT.com his column says
Submitted by FormerSanDiegan on August 16, 2007 - 5:12pm.

On SDDT.com his column says he's in vacation.
I think he's really secretly meeting with the NAR, Elvis Presley, and the PPT to concoct plans for next week's rally.

http://www.sddt.com/News/article.cfm?Sou...

Concerning what's happening
Submitted by Mr. Drysdale on August 16, 2007 - 6:54pm.

Concerning what's happening to Countrywide, don't be surprised if you see the same thing happen to WAMU. 2/3rds of their entire portfolio is neg-am/teaser loans with deferred interest that WAMU is counting as income on their books because accrual accounting allows them to do so. When "THEY" start issuing restated financial statements, things will REALLY get ugly : (

To make matters worse, they also offer essentially no qualification commercial mortgages without most of the other required documentation that most lenders require, like Estoppel certificates, Subordination Agreements, etc.

JWM I eat crow again. You
Submitted by SD Realtor on August 16, 2007 - 11:22pm.

JWM I eat crow again. You called it about Chamberlain getting yanked. Good call.

SD Realtor

oops I just saw the other posts that he is on vacation... well let's see how it goes.

SDR, I doubt NCT moved that
Submitted by JWM in SD on August 17, 2007 - 6:47am.

SDR, I doubt NCT moved that quickly, but who knows. What I do know is that the MSM has flipped more to our side recently and the question is can they afford to hace a dimwit like Chamberhead consistently on the wrong side of the story? I think the answer in the long run is NO. When the LA Times and OC Register are running negative stories and have sections of their website devoted to the mortgage mess, then cannot afford to ignore it either.

Have enjoyed your theories
Submitted by guy1 on August 17, 2007 - 9:01pm.

Have enjoyed your theories for a long time, but continue to be a non-believer in the real housing crash. AKA: here comes the Fed. The Fed will never let this go to pieces. Mark my words. They will monitize the damn thing and eat the inflation. Much to all of our disgust. By the way, you guys see the fix was in yesterday. When the market was down 300, the real bank stocks were up. What a miracle, today the fed cuts the rate.

Enjoy

Troll somewhere else
Submitted by JWM in SD on August 18, 2007 - 9:04am.

Troll somewhere else guy...its not amusing anymore.

Not even one day, and the
Submitted by guy1 on August 18, 2007 - 7:20pm.

Not even one day, and the Fed cut. You can at least say I was right.

They cut the rate on short
Submitted by JWM in SD on August 19, 2007 - 2:32pm.

They cut the rate on short term discount window not the fed funds rate.

Don't bring a knife to a gunfight...you will lose.

Good luck with that
Submitted by guy1 on August 23, 2007 - 6:32am.

Good luck with that thinking. I guess it didn't inject 120 billion of liquidity to the market, and it didn't signal the fed's change in position. or did it. The fed is not going to let millions of people loose there homes. Better buy youself some high quality bank stocks, further rate cuts are coming including your fed funds. Dont be surprised when the defaults get worse if they dont directly monitize the whole damn thing by buying these rediculous MBO's and saving their hedge fund buddies.

Thanks for keeping the site honest Rich and letting us non-belivers check in and vent our similar frustrations that happen to conclude in a different endgame. No real crash due to no free market.

The Fed will have to let
Submitted by SHILOH on August 28, 2007 - 12:33pm.

The Fed will have to let housing correct - Wages are not high enough to sustain it. If 80% goes to mortgage, tax and upkeep...what is leftover for spending elsewhere in the economy? The next argument would be...only rich people will live in SD...they will all flock here and keep prices high. From what I could derive from 2006 data...there were 100,000 millionaires in SD County, approx = 3.4% of the 2,941,454 population in SD County for that year.