On Grantham's comments: my comments Saturday night are pertinent here for two reasons — anyone
selling illiquid CDO tranches,
subordinated mortgage
bonds, etc., immediately prior to the crisis would find two things: 1) the bids were non-existent or really poor, and 2) if the trade did take place, it would be at levels that reset the pricing grid for that area of the market a LOT lower, leaving the remaining securities looking worse, and a diminution of GAAP equity.
The CDO manager would say that it depends on the amount of leverage he and his competitors can employ in buying
bonds for his deals, and how dearly he can
sell his equity and
subordinate tranches.