Inside Opinion

If you have questions about how the Daily News makes editorial decisions, this blog has the answers. Editorial page editor Matt Zencey and writers Frank Gerjevic and Rosemary Shinohara will discuss what they're working on, answer questions and ask your perspective on issues facing Alaska.


Contributors

Matt Zencey

Matt Zencey joined the Daily News as an editorial writer in 1985 and was named editorial page editor in May 2007. He has won several. "Best editorial writing" awards from the Alaska Press Club and was a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University. He lives on the west side of Anchorage, where he enjoys the best weather in town and easy access to the Coastal Trail. E-mail Matt at mzencey@adn.com

Frank Gerjevic

Frank Gerjevic has worked at the Daily News since 1978, where he's been sports editor, copy editor, reporter and columnist. He's been an editorial writer since 1998. He began his newspaper career with the Anchorage Times in 1975. E-mail Frank at fgerjevic@adn.com

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Me and Nicholas Kristof - 10/12/2009 5:02 pm

Those pricey city union contracts...What ADN said at the time - 10/7/2009 6:03 pm

Home heating haiku - 10/6/2009 12:42 pm

"He got more than 175 words for his letter!" - 9/24/2009 6:23 pm

Dividend haiku - 9/23/2009 5:12 pm

Garage doors debate - 9/23/2009 4:12 pm

What Alaska members of Congress say about financial reform - 9/21/2009 4:49 pm

Why the federal court dismissed the challenge to Alaska's way of picking judges - 9/16/2009 10:58 am

Dead-on investment? - 9/14/2009 5:01 pm

Wednesday haiku - 9/9/2009 11:14 am

The president's speech to schoolchildren - 9/8/2009 10:23 am

George Will, peacenik? Exhibit A: Why are we sticking around so long in Iraq? - 9/3/2009 2:36 pm

George Will, peacenik? Exhibit B: "Time to Get Out of Afghanistan" - 9/3/2009 2:31 pm

High praise for Nunaka Valley softball team - 9/2/2009 12:23 pm

More about sarcasm in letters - 9/1/2009 1:03 pm

Sen. Lisa Murkowski re Senate Energy Bill - 8/31/2009 2:30 pm

Sen. Lisa Murkowski re Cap and Trade (climate change) Bill - 8/31/2009 1:55 pm

Friday haiku - 8/28/2009 6:28 pm

The perils of satire II... - 8/27/2009 5:46 pm

What Kennedy said in 1980 is still true today . . . - 8/26/2009 10:17 am

No sheep - 8/25/2009 4:57 pm

The perils of satire . . . - 8/25/2009 11:38 am

full archive »

Dead-on investment?

Posted by Frank Gerjevic

Posted: September 14, 2009 - 5:01 pm

Comments (0) |

"Bankers to bet on the lives of others"

That was a strange tale by Jenny Anderson of The New York Times that ran on the Nation & World cover of Sunday's Daily News. Strange at least to those of us unschooled in the ways of sophisticated financial instruments.

Investment bankers will buy "life settlements," life insurance policies that old and ill people sell for a cash discount. Then they'll package the policies into bonds and sell them to investors, who hope to profit when the ailing and aged kick off soon enough to end premiums and pay off.

I suppose you could say that it works for the old folks, because they get cash. And maybe it works for the bond buyers, because they make money. Maybe.

Insurance companies are wary. Me? I'm checking on tonight's bus fare.

I'll bet bus fare on this: The life settlement bond packagers and traders are going to make money. And the disturbing part of the story was how this latest Wall Street scheme came about - when the mortgage game went south last year, investment bankers went looking for a new easy-money game to play, and "life settlements" may be it.

And if it blows up? They'll cover it the old-fashioned way. With taxpayers' money. Don't let 'em do it, Uncle Sam. It's one thing to forget the lessons of the 1920s. It's another to forget 2008.


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