

The mortgage crisis, in cartoon form (has cursing, maybe NSFW?) - yummyfajitas
http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true&pli=1

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michaelneale
A pretty good explanation (according to my limited understanding anyway). Can
anyone who knows more about this confirm that it is as accurate as an amusing
stick figure cartoon can be?

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brentr
It is very accurate. The problem occurred with the "division of labor" that is
clearly outlined in the presentation.

Many people took out loans that they couldn't pay for. They failed to
understand the terms of their mortgage. It didn't help that the mortgage
brokers had lowered their lending standards so low that almost anyone could
walk in and get a mortgage.

It is true that most mortgage companies were simply in the business of
brokering as many deals as possible. They didn't care because they just
brokered the deal.

So the next logical group to place the blame on would be the banks. The banks,
and their legions of loan officers, should not have allowed the loans to take
place. Unfortunately, banks do take their mortgages and sell them on the open
market to investment banks who end up wrapping them up in some derivative
product.

A good reference work concerning the creation of the mortgage derivatives is a
book by Michael Lewis titled Liars Poker. In the book Lewis describes how the
mortgage derivatives industry came to be and how they founders of the industry
went about valuing these products. It's not a rigorous review at all. That's
why many people didn't even know what types of mortgages were in these
products.

Like my other comment. The article is very accurate. I would like to see
legislation to fix the industry as well as some civil and criminal cases
because crimes were indeed committed.

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nazgulnarsil
Finance is tough job market. You don't have much job security and the risks go
up as your position does. Most financial officers are one major fuckup away
from a ruined career. All types of engineers are in the best position right
now because everyone is desperate for more good engineers. Not just from the
explosion of software engineering but also from all the baby boomer
mechanical, chemical, and civil engineers on the verge of retirement.

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carpal
What the hell is going on with comments on this topic?

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yummyfajitas
I have no idea. If it was my submission that caused it, I apologize to all YC
readers out there.

PG, a feature suggestion: create a "Hide this user from me" button. By
default, the list of hidden users could contain all users matching .* reddit.*
(but without a space after the first * , that's only there due to YC markup
rules).

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edu
I don't think you submission has anything to do with them. I suppose it's a
simple case of being in the wrong side in the wrong moment.

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allenbrunson
maybe i'm just reading more comment threads than usual, but doesn't it look
like we're under troll attack here?

i see an account that got to -40 karma an hour after being created. after you
get a certain amount in the hole, shouldn't your ability to comment be
disabled?

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rms
I figured the software did it, I guess PG is just normally quick with the dead
button.

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ruslan
Incredibly cool and effectively told :-)

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brentr
Bingo!

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brentr
I included the comment because I thought the presentation was dead on. It
certainly did capture the essence of the how the mortgage system works in this
country.

It is because of the mortgage crisis and its spread to the general credit
markets that I can't find a job in finance at this time. That's why I have
made the decision to pursue a second undergraduate degree. I'm done with
finance after supporting for three years the house of cards Wall Street built.

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maximilian
What are you going to get a degree in? I might suggest just jumping into a
master's program to skip a lot of the cruft that comes with undergraduate
programs. They might make you take some undergraduate courses, but only the
really important ones - And the graduate courses you take will be hard, but
you'll learn a lot from them. I'm doing something similar but in applied math.
(i have a degree in engineering). I have a friend who studied physics as an
undergrad and is now getting a masters in CS. They made him take a few
undergraduate courses, putting him back a semester, but he doesn't have to
wade through the full undergraduate curriculum.

Oh. And only take 3 courses/semester as a grad. student. You actually have a
chance to learn it all thoroughly.

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brentr
The degree is going to be in CS. I chose to do a second undergraduate degree
because I didn't want to do a PhD in finance or economics. I found myself more
and more wanting to write code. I can get lost in a good problem for hours and
not even realize it. I've always been fascinated with computers, but I have
only started to see what is truly possible when one is able to create a
service rather than just consume one.

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yummyfajitas
So get a masters in CS. It's not a Ph.D. in finance/economics, and also avoids
the BS required to get a BS.

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brentr
Based on my location and cost constraints BGSU was the only option I have
available, and I did not meet the requirements for the masters program.

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suboptimal
brent, why not an MBA? With your finance background and (I presume) a bunch of
undergraduate business courses under your belt it should be quick and easy.
There's no degree requirement for hackers--"MBA coder with financial sector
experience" sounds pretty good, and you can keep working on your HNd here
among like-minded comrades. You could also try to use the program as a
platform to launch your startup: business plan competitions, networking,
possible co-founders or employees among your fellow students, etc.

I'm sure you've considered this--I'm just surprised you (or anybody else)
didn't mention it.

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Glimjaur
I would label this with the "Not NSWF" marker.

