Monday, November 17, 2008

George Washington and the cherry tree

A legend is told about George Washington as a boy. Young George had a new hatchet and with it he cut down a small cherry tree. When his father saw the tree, he was angry. "George," he said. "Did you do that?" George was afraid to admit that he did.

Nevertheless, the boy decided to tell the truth. "Yes, Father," he said, "I cut down the cherry tree with my hatchet. I cannot tell a lie." George Washington's father was proud of George for telling the truth.

Moral of this story
1. No investor would have bought the credit linked notes, if they were told that the real risk is 10 to 15 times of the risk of default of a single entity.

2. The financial institution would not have sold this type of product, if they know that it was toxic and very high risk.

3 The authority would have not "registered" the product for sale.

I hope that the moral of George Washington's story will encourage the parties to come forward and say, "I cannot tell a lie. I made a mistake to buy/ sell / register the product."