Credit Default Swaps: Worse than the Subprime Bomb

sponger
sponger Posts: 3,159
edited October 2008 in A Moving Train
This American Life Radio Broadcast 10/03/08

It appears there is a potential 60 trillion dollar debt obligation for these "swaps" and only 10 trillion in assets to pay them off.

The reason why it hasn't hit the news sooner is because banks and corps have actually been HIDING the problem from the SEC.

And check this out....the person who pushed to keep them unregulated in 2000, and who succeeded in doing so in spite of warnings from the SEC was none other than John McCain's financial advisor at the time.
reigning champion

http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • eekamouse
    eekamouse Posts: 267
    Yap. Fucking S C A R Y

    It was actually on 60 minutes this passed week. I don't have the video handy.
    Love is more important to me than faith.
  • OutOfBreath
    OutOfBreath Posts: 1,804
    Wow. You guys seriously need some functioning and empowered oversight institutions. And fast.

    Peace
    Dan
    "YOU [humans] NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" - Death

    "Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
  • eekamouse
    eekamouse Posts: 267
    OutOfBreath wrote:
    Wow. You guys seriously need some functioning and empowered oversight institutions. And fast.

    Peace
    Dan

    You guys? This is global.
    Love is more important to me than faith.
  • RolandTD20Kdrummer
    RolandTD20Kdrummer Posts: 13,066
    60 trillion?! So is this the beginning of the end or what gives?

    How does this ever get resolved? Currency death combined with massive wealth transfer with a dash of street level carnage?

    or just work 70 hours a week for less pay?
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

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  • SundaySilence
    SundaySilence Posts: 537
    eekamouse wrote:
    Yap. Fucking S C A R Y

    It was actually on 60 minutes this passed week. I don't have the video handy.

    The video, handy:

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/05/60minutes/main4502454.shtml

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