[quote author="FairEconomist" date=1238387832]The 20 cents on the dollar (actually I think it was 12) was for unsecured Lehman debt so it's not directly linked to any particular house. That debt will be entitled to shares of the MBS and whatnot that Lehman owned, but not 1:1, because some other creditors come first, notably derivatives counterparties. Unless you're referring to some more specific security, of course.</blockquote>
Right, but a lot of the tranches and even the underlying collateral was traded at 20 cents on the dollar, give or take 10 or so pennies. So if the investor bought the tranche, the lien on this specific property, a group of tranches or specific loans, or even the entire pool at 20 cents on the dollar, then they profit. The derivative counterparties got paid when the default ratio of the pool or the tranche they insured reached a certain threshold, regardless of a specific property, or who owns the rights to the tranche or MBS pool, (If Goldman bet <em>that</em> Lehman pool or tranche would suck, then they got paid, and it looks like they really did too.) and most likely it was AIG, er... I mean the taxpayer.