If it are off balance sheet vehicles, maybe it is possible to default with the vehicle without defaulting the balance. What is the point of having a balance if most of the liabilities aren't in it?
I have often seen these huge sums of outstanding CDOs, but who has sold them except AIG, that has only a tiny fraction of them?
If the sum is so well known, I guess there are as well some informations, on who has sold them. But I have never seen a good hint on that. And shouldn't we see the pain right now? If AIG pays out, shouldn't we see other institutions in pain as well, due to CDOs?
I'm of course not sure, but I guess, that those banks, that don't have troubles with CDOs so far, probably don't have sold them and therefore they aren't likely to suffer a lot in the future from them, only indirect by having lent to institutions that are going into bankruptcy.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers