Many of you buy Lottery Tickets, go to Casinos, play some "Texas Hold'em" with friends or attend Church and VFW Bingo nights.
Who doesn't like a little "friendly" gambling from time to time-BUT, that's you gambling with your own money exercising your own choice.
What's been going on in the Derivatives Markets for likely decades, if not actually Centuries or longer, has been big Banks atop Investment Houses gambling with YOUR money.
Like a betting window they have ponying up trillions and likely quadrillions of dollars betting on Bank Rates, Credit Performance, War Outcomes, even weather events. For most of this time, with few exceptions, that Market has been insulated from the "sturm und drang" of the "regular" Economic issues the rest of us have to wrestle with-you know, like Recession, Depression, Investment losses.
However, the "insulation" must be wearing out, as the Derivatives Market is not only in chaos, but is looking likely to be headed for complete meltdown-and SOON.
So...how does that effect the rest of us?
The picture isn't pretty. Do more than scan the headline and comment. This is a really serious development. Bring some knowledge to the party, as most of us really need to know as much as we can about all this BEFORE the "defecation hits the ventilator."
The article concludes this way:
How would you respond if your investment account suddenly went to "zero" because the firm you were investing with "diverted" customer funds for company use and now you have no way of recovering your money?
Keep an eye on the large Wall Street banks. In a previous article, I quoted a New York Times article entitled "A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives" which described how these banks dominate the trading of derivatives...
On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan.
The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable — and controversial — fields in finance. They also share a common secret: The details of their meetings, even their identities, have been strictly confidential.
According to the article, the following large banks are represented at these meetings: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citigroup.
When the casino finally goes "bust", you will know who to blame.
Without a doubt, a derivatives panic is coming.
It will cause the financial markets to crash.
Several of the "too big to fail" banks will likely crash and burn and require bailouts.
As a result of all this, credit markets will become paralyzed by fear and freeze up.
Once again, we will see the U.S. economy go into cardiac arrest, only this time it will not be so easy to fix.
