Patrick Chappatte for the Int'l Herald Tribune

Presentation Zen: Financial crisis simplified (a whiteboard presentation)

Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) are investment instruments that are partially to blame for the mortgage crisis.

What, you say you don’t know what CDOs are or why they matter? Don’t worry, almost no one does (maybe that’s part of the problem). But not to worry, Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch goes analog to simplify and visualize the problem at the whiteboard in a 6-minute presentation he calls Financial Crisis 101: CDOs explained.

(Via Presentation Zen.)