Latest from Paddy Hirsch

• Feb 11, 2009

  Write-downs

  

  As markets have deteriorated, "write-downs" have figured prominently in more and more corporate reports. What are write-downs all about? Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains.

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• Jan 31, 2009

  Mark to market

  

  There's a debate in financial circles over whether banks are unfairly penalized by the requirement that they "mark to market" their holdings. Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains what that term means.

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• Jan 22, 2009

  Toxic assets

  

  If you've been following the problems encountered by the banks, you've probably come across the phrase "toxic assets." They've poisoned banks' balance sheets and brought them to the brink of failure. But what is a toxic asset, exactly? Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains.

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• Jan 14, 2009

  Why ‘bad banks’ might be a good thing

  

  Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's latest plan to get the economy moving — and the risk involved.

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• Jan 1, 2009

  Getting naked in short selling

  

  The practice of short selling has been blamed for the collapse of several major companies' shares during the financial crisis. What is short selling? Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains.

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• Dec 23, 2008

  Quantitative easing

  

  Now the Federal Reserve has effectively cut the target lending rate to zero, it only has one more weapon in its arsenal. Quantitative easing. Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains what this "nuclear option" it is, and what the Fed hopes it'll do.

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• Dec 16, 2008

  A look inside hedge funds

  

  Hedge funds used to occupy a dark, undisturbed corner of the financial world, but over the last year they've been thrown under the spotlight. Still, many people don't know exactly what hedge funds are, or what hedging actually means. Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains.

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• Dec 9, 2008

  Leveraging and deleveraging

  

  Leveraging — or borrowing — has been cited as one of the contributors to the financial crisis. Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains how the move to deleverage — or reduce debt — is prompting wild market swings and concerns about deflation

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• Nov 26, 2008

  How credit cards become asset-backed bonds

  

  Mortgages aren't the only financial instruments that get turned into securities. Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains how companies make money by buying credit card debt and bundling it.

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• Oct 11, 2008

  The credit crisis as Antarctic expedition

  

  Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains how banks have gotten frozen in their tracks, awaiting a rescue.

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