Hedge funds often tucked hard to sell off assets in their investment vehicles, and when liquidity dried up, they were left holding unsellable items.
But in 2008, Scott Walker, Wisconsin's Republican governor who was then the Milwaukee County executive, was pushing hard to sell off the airport, arguing for a deal that would generate $25 million annually for the county transit system.
Yet he said that it would be very hard to sell off his businesses because they are mostly real estate and that he didn't see anything wrong with having business associates coming into the White House for a photo op with the president.
These E.T.F.'s are very easy to sell at moments of panic, but the operators of the E.T.F.'s have found it harder to sell off the actual bonds.
The ideas include making football grounds harder to sell off.
"It was such a hard sell-off yesterday, a relentless sell-off with a lot of downside volume at the close," said Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management in Bedford Hills, New York.
The hard sell-off prompted some analysts to reconsider their attitudes about the company.
That mentality, and not a commitment to products, made it easier for I.B.M. to sell off its hard disk drive and personal computer businesses — even though, Mr. Palmisano said, I.B.M.'s Thinkpad notebook was "by any measure the most recognizable brand for us," used by millions of people.
In general the City reacted with dismay, warning that the plans will make it harder for the Government to sell off the taxpayer's huge stake in the banking industry following the bailouts of Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland.
She had Spice sell off its hard-core cable network, Hot Network, for $10.5 million, when it was reaching only 7 million households.
If the securitization market dries up, and financial institutions have a hard time selling off their loans, mortgage interest rates will rise while the volume of mortgages issued falls.
