The MBS-pools were rated up to AA with a ton of non-performing loans. IIRC 8% nonperf resulted in a technical default. So you go 90-days no pay and boom. You had desks shorting CDS in AA-A paper while shorting subprime outright. The AA was just high-priced dog shit that had further to fall.
Ahem. AIG. LEH's 5%ers.
Margin Call acted as if this one risk-dept had an "a-ha" moment. Completely implausible and pandering.
Mmmm, I cannot fathom much of what you mentioned there about the rated paper, but it sounds like it was a clusterfuck in the making. Do you see this scenario developing now, or are all these folks calling for another recession due to corporate debt and sub-prime autoloans just doing the chicken-little thing? Should we be worried, as bulls?