Italy's Banking Crisis Spirals Elegantly out of Control (THE SOLUTION: SUBPRIME LOAN POOLS TO THE ECB! HURRAH!)

``The number [of NPLs in the Italian banking system] officially tossed around is €201 billion. But even the ECB seems to doubt that number... Other numbers tossed around are over €300 billion, or 18% of total loans outstanding... Now, to keep the banks from toppling, the ECB has an ingenious plan: [the ECB is] going to buy these toxic assets or accept them as collateral in return for cash... Oh, but the ECB is not going to buy them directly. That would violate the rules; it can only buy assets that sport a relatively high credit rating. And this stuff is toxic. So these loans are going to get bundled into structured Asset Backed Securities (ABS) and sliced into different tranches.''