It's a financial product that's built from other debts.
Specifically, it was a piece of partial ownership on a bunch of mortgages in 2008. The issue here is that when the junk mortgages defaulted, the CDO also went sideways.
Fun fact - before 2008, they had started making CDOs out of CDOs because of of the insatiable appetite for mortgage-backed financial products. When mortgages are underwritten for people withouth a job, and packaged in a product with a AAA credit rating, it turns out it's a profitable thing to sell
Specifically, it was a piece of partial ownership on a bunch of mortgages in 2008. The issue here is that when the junk mortgages defaulted, the CDO also went sideways.
Fun fact - before 2008, they had started making CDOs out of CDOs because of of the insatiable appetite for mortgage-backed financial products. When mortgages are underwritten for people withouth a job, and packaged in a product with a AAA credit rating, it turns out it's a profitable thing to sell