[nicollo]

You nailed there both the cause of the sub-prime freakout (resale market dried up) and why it won’t explode any further (overall presence of stable players).

This is all just another magnificent American recycling of dollars — at some one else’s expense.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

"Not explode any further"....is quite the audacious call, IMO. It is true that the players remaining standing are more stable and have tightened their standards, etc; etc; but I believe there are massive piles of this questionable debt in the hands of (for example) pension and mutual funds of all sorts who are prohibited by charter from owning sludge of this nature and quality. These entities may well be blissfully unaware of what they've been sold, having done their requisite due dilly via casual reference to Fitch, Moody's, and S&P ratings. Well, that story remains to play out.