Speculators set up a casino where the chips were the stomachs of millions. What does it say about our system that we can so casually inflict so much pain?

Readers, As of 7/16/10 see and listen to the interview By Democracy Now with Kaufman, the author of this article, http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/16/the_food_bubble_how_wall_street

The under-fire oil company isn't too busy to be fighting financial regulation in Washington.

Readers, we can only assume that the derivatives market has been a significant source of fictional income for BP as well as the the already identified Wall Street mob of squids. I would guess that their involvement in the derivative markets is actually larger than the probable fines from the bungled deep water oil well or they wouldn't risk this kind of exposure at this time. Tadit Anderson

Readers, this sort of investing is also described as "self dealing" and "insider trading" and in the rest of the universe this behavior is generally considered to be fraudulent and criminal. All of the tap dancing in the world won't make that go away. Admin.

A hedge fund, Magnetar, helped create arcane mortgage-based instruments, pushed for risky things to go inside them and then bet against the investments.

In late 2005, the booming U.S. housing market seemed to be slowing. The Federal Reserve had begun raising interest rates. Subprime mortgage company shares were

Readers, personally I would have entitled this article differently, more on the order of Don't Forget Greece, But Look At How This Derivative Collapse Is Spreading To Other Countries. In about a year the economic landscape is going to look much worse. Neo-Classical or as William Black likes to say, Theo-Classical Economics, is essentially as massive criminal conspiracy, some times also described as corporatism.

“Yet on a wholesale basis, Goldman Sachs and others not only had the inside information, they had created it. That is why Goldman started trading against the the interests of its clients to whom it was selling mortgage backed securities that were designed to fail”

“Both the investor and the borrower would have understood that sometimes very little of the investors’ money was actually being used to fund mortgages, with the rest being sued to buy insurance, credit default swaps, pay fees, profits, kickbacks and commissions.”

Comments: Everyone now has heard of credit default swaps but very few people understand what they mean and fewer still understand their importance in connection with the securitization of residential mortgage loans and other types of loans.The importance of understanding the operation of a CDS contract in the context of foreclosure defense cannot be understated.

Readers, this is a fairly basic article, accessible to all. It brings home the same set of patterns of ignorance and criminality that has been seen time and time again. Also note that GS set up these derivatives and then bet via other derivatives, credit default swaps, that the whole process would crash and burn. And Robert Scheer also notes that the very same set of interests is bribing the political process in the US such that no reform is even possible in the near term. So really, all we get to do is to describe the scenery as we plummet to another major economic jolt downward.

Goldman Sachs helped the Greek government to mask the true extent of its deficit with the help of a derivatives deal that legally circumvented the EU Maastricht deficit rules. At some point the so-called cross currency swaps will mature, and swell the country's already bloated deficit.

Greeks aren't very welcome in the Rue Alphones Weicker in Luxembourg. It's home to Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office. The number crunchers there are deeply annoyed with Athens. Investigative reports state that important data "cannot be confirmed" or has been requested but "not received."

Readers: this is a long article so be prepared to consume it in more than one visit. Mr. Liu, as I have mentioned before is a major macro-economist who also operates an investment consultation firm in New York City. His economics is generally impeccable and thoroughly grounded upon historical analysis. Why his material is not also published in book form, I have never understood. It could be very well be that he uses his columns at the Asia Times On Line site to demonstrate and validate his perspective as a consultant.