"Wall Street has a new scam"

[dan bailey]

(By the way, for those who are convinced Death Panels are coming, Wall Street has a new scam, now that the sub-prime housing market thing went belly up and took much of the American economy with it: "buying" life insurance policies from the elderly and infirm in return for a cash settlement usually paid out over the course of time rather than as a lump sum, then, a la sub-prime loans, bundling these together into marketable bonds and annuities whose purchasers make more money the quicker those named on the policies die. There are your death panels right there. So when does the outcry against this little tontine scam start?)


Dunno how "new" this is, as it sounds very much like the business model for a company I wrote about as a freelancer for the Philadelphia Business Journal about a half-decade ago. I don't think they, or their industry, were exactly brand-new then, either.

(Actually, the company's owner made some noise about hiring me to flak for them, but I never got back with him, not because of any particular ideological or moral concerns on my part -- after all, it's not like I can walk into Publix & tell them "Hey, I'm broke, but I'm solidly to the left of Leon Trotsky ... can I please have this bag of apples?" -- but because I had no interest in even entertaining possibility of moving to the North.)

Paying out over time rather than as a lump-sum might be a new wrinkle, though; ditto for the bundling together & marketing ... which of course may well be what you're referring to.

In which case, never mind.

[Steven Grant]

ditto for the bundling together & marketing ... which of course may well be what you're referring to.

In which case, never mind.

Yeah, the bundling is the new part; it's the same business model as with the sub-prime loans they can no longer bundle and pass off for a quick profit.

I suppose if the swine flu "epidemic" becomes everything the government says it will be, though, those life insurance bundles will be worth a bundle...

- Grant

[Charles RB]

if the swine flu "epidemic"

Pet peeve - it is an epidemic. In fact, by now it's a pandemic: it's an infectious disease that's spread throughout human populations really quickly, and on a global scale. It's not killed many people, but it still fits the definition of pandemic.

[Steven Grant]

Pet peeve - it is an epidemic. In fact, by now it's a pandemic: it's an infectious disease that's spread throughout human populations really quickly, and on a global scale. It's not killed many people, but it still fits the definition of pandemic.

Okay, from now on I'll refer to it as an allegedly fatal epidemic.

- Grant

[Charles RB]

Okay, from now on I'll refer to it as an allegedly fatal epidemic.

Sold!
.
.

[Village Idiot]

Pet peeve - it is an epidemic. In fact, by now it's a pandemic: it's an infectious disease that's spread throughout human populations really quickly, and on a global scale. It's not killed many people, but it still fits the definition of pandemic.

If it hasn't killed many people, it is as insignificant as a cold.

Betcha Big Pharma makes a bundle this year, though.

[Charles RB]

If it hasn't killed many people, it is as insignificant as a cold.

Which is irrelevant as to whether or not it's an epidemic or pandemic - they refer to the spread of disease.

[mikekerr3]

Okay, from now on I'll refer to it as an allegedly fatal epidemic.

- Grant

That doesn't work either, It does and has been fatal in reality

[Steven Grant]

That doesn't work either, It does and has been fatal in reality

The disease has been fatal. The epidemic has not been fatal (or, at least, not to epidemic proportions).

- Grant

[Village Idiot]

Which is irrelevant as to whether or not it's an epidemic or pandemic - they refer to the spread of disease.

Oh, agreed. It has become pandemic. (Unlike stupidity, which seems to have been mostly confined to the United States.) :wink:

[Charles RB]

Unlike stupidity, which seems to have been mostly confined to the United States.) :wink:

We wish. :frown:

[Mic Murphy]

It's basically the concept of viaticals (a terminally ill person selling his or her life insurance policy at a reduced price to use the cash for personal use before dying) and expanding it, using a bulk of policies to securitize them.

[EuropaBambaataa]

We wish. :frown:

Ditto. Overreacting is the name of the game over here as well.