[bko]

I think the Keynesian beauty contest is less relevant for structured products. If others don't share the same view of the underlying collateral you may not be able to sell them in the near future. But if the collateral performance meets your more optimistic viewpoint, you will be compensated and eventually the bond will be paid off. The securities aren't like equities with some some arbitrary value associated with them that can only be captured through sale to another party (excluding dividends, buyouts, etc).

There were probably a lot of structural issues that prevented many of the large players to purchases these assets though (mostly liquidity). This is probably the justification the Federal Reserve used to purchase said assets.