A couple of great excerpts from The Economist

[c1ue]

http://www.economist.com/finance/dis...ory_id=9830765

More loans gone wild:

When a late payer gets back on track his loan is once again labelled “current”, and his chequered history does not have to be fully disclosed when the loan goes into a securitised pool.

Talking about securitization and ratings

“Once you get into it, it's a bit like heroin,” says Joseph Mason, an academic who has written on securitisation. When AAA paper is repeatedly compared to Class A drugs, you know something is wrong.