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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bread Upon The Water who wrote (111818)	3/28/2012 3:45:06 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

" Same ole same ole. Mister Greed done us in." ..and it always has and will. In the absence of regulation. Free markets do not self-regulate, except through bubbles and recessions.

To: Bread Upon The Water who wrote (111818)	3/28/2012 7:50:16 PM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

Well, I fundamentally disagree with allowing derivatives where I can bet on the decline of an asset I don't hold. If I can buy fire insurance on your house, then I can make sure that insurance pays off. That's a terrible, purposeless instrument. Derivatives used to hedge legitimate business transaction, like fuel future used by airlines and the like, are good. Derivatives used purely for speculative purposes that act as a tax on the real economy, but add no productive value to the economy, are bad. In addition, the collateral requirements on these derivatives are nothing short of ludicrous. It encourages wild 30X speculation that can easily bring down entire countries, much less speculative firms. Warren Buffet hit the mark when he called them weapons of financial mass destruction. He's exactly right. It's spun way out of control and most of it adds no value to the real economy. Banks have become casinos. It's time to roll back their range of speculative, parasitic activity so that the real productive economy can thrive.