One of the only big cases I’ve been involved in since joining my current firm is a toxic mortgage assets case.  Even though the econ. side of me thinks the stuff is pretty interesting, most people’s eyes glaze over when I start talking about SPVs and credit enhancements and magic gnomes.  (Ok, so maybe there are no magic gnomes in mortgage-backed securitizations, but there should be.)

Anyway, the folks over at NPR’s Planet Money actually went out and bought one of those assets.  Now, they’re explaining what’s happening to it,in a more interesting, none-eye-glazing way than I ever could:

Planet Money is committed to following the financial crisis to the bitter end. And what better way to do that than to own a piece of it. We bought one of those things that no one wanted, one of those things that almost brought down the global economy: our very own toxic asset. This one has more than 2,000 mortgages in it. We paid $1,000, with our own money, for our piece. It used to be worth more like $75,000. Click on the timeline and roll over the states to watch a disaster in progress.

Readers have named the asset “Toxie.”  Click over to watch Toxie die a slow death.

-Michael