"well, that leaves a lot of imagined money out there to disappear, poof into thin air, or, rather, into Bytesville."
Well, if we assumed the the net worth of all companies are zero, than it truley would disappear, as it wasn't there in the first place. Better to ask what portion of these derivatives are offset by the other? Maybe this is what is holding the DOW 10,000 number down?
Ask yourself this: If the DOW is worth some 13 Trillion dollars, and has gone down 25% is that not equal to 3.25Trillion. Now compare that to LTC. If there total leveraged position was liquidated, than they may realize a 100 billion dollar debt. But if it's slowly released, than the loss may be mooted to 3.25 Billion.
Either way, I'm sure these people will all have a job somewhere. This is a shame. Maybe a "janitor" for a bank? I'm curious as to what their REAL positions are. Come Monday, they may be positive again. |
