SIVs, fundamentally, are little more than off-balance RV vehicles trying to arb spreads between ABCP and higher yielding ******** (much of it mortgage-backed).
When you don't learn from history and try to put on LTCM-style trades without managing your risk properly, you get whacked. End of story.
I wish it was the end of the story!
Alas, there's all kinds of comedy and tragegy yet to be writ.
But the underlying assets are worth something, and while we don't know what, we know with certainty that it's not par and it's not zip.
My guess is about $0.60 now and about $0.80 later with work outs and all manner of other stuff.
Mark