NY Times picks up the prime meme, but misses the point

``... there are more prime borrowers than in other credit classes. So a default rate of 4 percent in prime might be exceed a 12 percent default rate in the subprime credit class, in terms of the raw number of defaults. And, from a secondary market perspective, RMBS and CDO deals were structured with a very different set of assumptions across credit classes; meaning that a 4 percent default rate in prime may do the same damage to existing prime deals that a 12 percent default rate did to subprime deals, relative to credit enhancement levels.''