© 2024 KOSU
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Zero Dollars, Zero Cents

Zero Dollars, Zero Cents

We bought her for $1,000 early this year. The mortgages she's made of were going sour at an alarming rate. When enough of the mortgages went bad, she would die.

On today's Planet Money:

Toxie — Planet Money's mortgage-backed toxic asset — is in a coma.

The monthly checks we've received since we bought Toxie earlier this year have added up to $449. Our payment for this month: zero dollars and zero cents.

She's not dead yet, but the end is drawing near.

For more of the latest details, read our post from this morning. This graphic shows how the mortgages are doing; this map, from PBS's Patchwork Nation, shows where the mortgages in Toxie are located.

Download the podcast, or subscribe. Music: The Smiths' "Girlfriend In A Coma." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jacob Goldstein is an NPR correspondent and co-host of the Planet Money podcast. He is the author of the book Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing.
KOSU is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.