Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
explode
English answer:
out of control (see below)
- The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2020-11-15 03:54:15 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
Nov 11, 2020 09:19
3 yrs ago
28 viewers *
English term
explode
Non-PRO
English
Bus/Financial
Finance (general)
Lending
I'm translating the book "The Price of Inequality" by Joseph Stiglitz, and in a chapter about predatory lending, the author wrote:
"In some other states, too, there were attempts to stop predatory lending, and in each of these instances banks used all their political muscle to stop states from enacting laws aimed at curtailing predatory lending. The result, as we know now, was not only massive fraud but also bad lending: too much indebtedness, with financial products that could explode with a change in interest rates or in the broader economic conditions, and indeed many did explode."
What does "explode" mean in this context?
Thank you in advance.
"In some other states, too, there were attempts to stop predatory lending, and in each of these instances banks used all their political muscle to stop states from enacting laws aimed at curtailing predatory lending. The result, as we know now, was not only massive fraud but also bad lending: too much indebtedness, with financial products that could explode with a change in interest rates or in the broader economic conditions, and indeed many did explode."
What does "explode" mean in this context?
Thank you in advance.
Responses
+3
5 hrs
AllegroTrans
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
United Kingdom
Sensible solutions
Native in: English (Variant: Wessexois) 
Works in: French to English, English, English to French
Related KudoZ points
:
24
Selected
out of control (see below)
It means that debt gets to the level that not only is it out of control (causing a massive number of property repossessions) but the lenders (banks) become insolvent and need bailing out by governments
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you so much for your help!"
-1
40 mins
airmailrpl
Brazil
Brazil
Native in English
&
English
Brazil
Technical - Fast - good price - accurate
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
, Portuguese (Variant: Brazilian)
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
28
blow up
explode => blow up
Note from asker:
| Thank you for your help anyway! |
5 hrs
Bridgette Mitchell
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
&
English
Works in field
United Kingdom
Natural translation of Japanese to EN
Native in: English
Works in: Japanese to English, English
highly susceptible
The financial products are highly susceptible to the interest rates, the explosion could be either a massive increase or decrease in their value. They are very easily affected by the interest rates, which is as much a curse as it is a blessing for the owners of the products.
Note from asker:
| Thank you for your explanation! |
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Tina Vonhof (X)
: This is a good explanation but doesn't quite capture the meaning of 'explode'.
58 mins
|
| neutral |
AllegroTrans
: Agree that financial products are highly susceptible to the interest rates, but I think the "expllosion" is probably referring to the banking collapse or at least to things going seriously wrong
1 hr
|
8 hrs
(interest rates) increase suddenly and dramatically
There are loans with a fixed rate period (or even zero interest period like the ones that some credit cards offer), and then become variable. When the fixed rate period ends, the interest rate could go up dramatically.
Note from asker:
| Thank you for your help! |
1 day 21 hrs
David Jones
Taiwan
Taiwan
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
Taiwan
Chinese to Eng (English native speaker)
Native in: English
Works in: Chinese to English, English
To get out of hand or to grow out of proportion.
Literally to get out of hand. To grow out of proportion. When a problem explodes it suddenly becomes much bigger than it was previously.
In this instance it talks about the debt suddenly being unsustainable, the people who are in debt cannot pay it back and therefore will get their houses repossessed (and other such horrible things)
In this instance it talks about the debt suddenly being unsustainable, the people who are in debt cannot pay it back and therefore will get their houses repossessed (and other such horrible things)
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