No, this term doesn't refer to an advertisement for toilet tissue (that would be Backed Asset Paper Commercial), and it doesn't designate a humorous procession up a mountain featuring bagpipes and a bunch of pastries (that would be a Comical Piper Baked Ascent, which frankly isn't even close, unless you have both dyslexia and a massive speech impediment).
Instead, this is commercial paper that has some asset providing it with collateral. Got it? No, didn't think so. We figured that definition would probably require a bit more of a break down.
First, commercial paper. Typically, this term refers to a short-term debt security. Basically, a company is borrowing money from investors and the commercial paper acts as the I.O.U. Often, this paper is unsecured, meaning that investors have no recourse if the company defaults. But the chance of default are low, because the time limit is so short. It's like your buddy borrowing 20 bucks from you to go to the movies, with the promise that he'll pay you back next week. Except it's on a corporate level, so we could be talking about millions of dollars of corporate paper.
Asset backed corporate paper goes the additional step of adding collateral. Usually, the asset back-stopping the paper is something like credit card or auto loan receivables. Since they are short-term, the maturity dates of the asset backed commercial paper are no more than 270 days.
For the issuer, selling the asset backed securities generates short-term capital to cover immediate expenses and smooth out the business cycle, similar to how companies will use a line of credit.
For investors, the prospect is usually relatively safe, because the maturity dates come soon enough that there isn't a big chance of a surprise default (hopefully, you can trust a company to stay in business for the next 9 months). Plus the investors' cash is only tied up for a brief period of time, and the interest rate is likely higher than something like a money market.
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sure we've all heard of mystery stories, but what really makes a mystery
a mystery? okay yeah if you're reading something called the big book of [boy picks book off shelf]
mysteries, that's a pretty good hint. but we're looking for something a bit more
general than that. like most stories a mystery will contain stuff like
characters a setting and a plot, but there are a whole bunch of other
ingredients that give mysteries that are distinctive and dare we say mysterious, [chef mixes ingredients]
taste. and no none of those ingredients are the mystery machines. well the first
one is a central problem aka a mystery to be solved like a crime. it's pretty
tough to solve a mystery if there's you know no mystery to solve. well you could
have a story where a detective goes to the beach with his friends and has a [2 men toss beach ball]
great time but with no problem well you've got no mystery. and sure the
detective might appreciate the day off but mystery stories aren't about
creating fond memories for fictional detectives. well the second element is a
list of suspects. if there's a crime to be solved then somebody must have [lineup shown]
committed that crime. and if there's only one suspect it's gonna be a pretty short
story, and not much of a mystery. so if you're bad at solving mysteries, well it
might be right up your alley. well the third element is a set of clues.
in a good mystery both the characters and the reader use clues to figure out [detective examines house]
who committed the central crime, and know the answer is rarely Miss Scarlet with
the candlestick in the billiard parlor. the fourth element is a bunch of red
herrings. and no red herring isn't an alternate name for swedish fish. [red candy fish]
we like that. in mysteries red herrings are false clues. things that suggest the
guilt of a suspect who's really innocent. even though readers like to try and
solve mysteries they don't want the solution to be too easy. it's like the
difference between playing chess with your grandpa and playing chess with a
toddler. yeah the win against the toddler well [man plays with old man, and young child]
it's gonna be way more satisfying than the win against your grandpa. what? she's
a prodigy. grandpa's just senile and last but not least a mystery story must
contain a dénouement. well this is the resolution which comes at the end of the
story. it reveals the suspect who committed the central crime and it [detective points out perp from lineup]
solves the mystery. and if you ever had a hard time coming up with a decent ending
to your mystery keep this in mind. Edgar Allan Poe once ended a story by
basically saying the orangutan did it .so when in doubt you know blame the [student grimaces]
orangutan.
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