No more "toxic assets":

The term "toxic assets" grates. Perhaps because within the word "toxic" is an implication that the toxicity can be reduced or eliminated, which, for the credit default swaps seems extremely unlikely. And the word "toxic" also implies some sort of tested-in-the-lab analysis (pace "poison" which is a concept that goes back thousands of years).

Far better is the terminology in this story:

Geithner Wrong, Crap Assets Correctly Priced, Say Harvard And Princeton Profs

Yeah, they really should be called "crap assets".


posted by Quiddity at 4/07/2009 10:12:00 AM