With all the noise being generated throughout the business press about LIBOR-gate (the fraudulent manipulation by many of the world’s largest banks of the London Interbank Offered Rate and the LIBOR-OIS spread), it’s nice to see folks finally getting down to brass tacks and discussing just how much money in damages will be sought out by those adversely affected by the scandal on this side of the pond. And, that just happens to be the subject Naked Capitalism Publisher Yves Smith covered in a post on her blog, just over an hour ago, entitled: "Libor Investigation Extended to US Mortgages, but What About TALF Loans?"

In the opening part of her post, Yves covered mortgages, and she reached the conclusion that potential damages due U.S. mortgageholders as a result of the too-big-to-fail banks’ fraudulent manipulation of LIBOR, starting in 2005, were relatively nominal.

Next, Yves discussed derivatives, which (along with many others in the blogosphere and the financial press) is where she states is where “the real action was.”