The way I heard it, the French had been cutting the drawing fingers off of English prisoners before cutting them loose. The “salute” was a way of indicating to the french that they could still draw their bows. At least that’s the way I heard it.
Regardless of who’s holding what tranch(e)s it seems to me that when they start racking up $75k and $100k losses from each foreclosed loan that it will affect everyone involved. I don’t know nuttin’ about derivatives but I was under the impression that leverage was a significant element in them, and leverage works both ways.
