The prospect of finding out whether LIBOR rates have been manipulated or downright false should make everyone run for the hills and stock up on canned Spam and bottled water.

Ok, maybe a bit of an overreaction on my part but with the London Interbank Offered Rate in question, $360 trillion in financial products could potentially be mis-priced... yes, that was trillion! That makes Moody's little glitch this past week seem like a mosquito bite.

The LIBOR rate, which affects everything from mortgages, loans of every kind and the derivative contracts between financial institutions is a "cornerstone of the financial markets" quoted Jason Simpson in a NY Times article.

The rates are compiled by the British Bankers' Association, from quotes by 16 banks from seven countries for various borrowing periods in multiple currencies. Taking out the top and bottom four values out leaves you the middle eight values which are averaged daily to get the rate.

Because of the seizure of the credit markets earlier in the year, a concern grew over how believable the rates were. Some worried banks were quoting lower rates to hide any perception of financial weakness or to reduce their borrowing costs while maintaining higher rates to customers.

This led the association to begin a review into the LIBOR setting process and which will be reported on May 30th.

Should make for an interesting summer.