DISPOSSESSION BY DERIVATIVES: How Securities Became Less Secure

“The primary purpose of derivatives is permitting the impermissible.”___ Nicholas Hildyard

“You have two cows, but you tell everyone you have five (based on a lapsed futures contract that you missed minimum payments on). You repackage the five of them into a Collateralized Lactating Obligation, pay for a AAA credit rating, slice the CLO into 15 pieces and sell it to investors, skimming the cream for yourself. Two cows die, and the credit ratings downgrade to junk status. However, you get to keep the cream, as well as a bailout for the full value of the lost cows”. ___ Anonymous

“In my view, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal”. ___ Warren Buffett

“If the World were a bank, they’ve have bailed it out already” ___ Bruno Latour

“It is about the taking of collateral, all of it, … Included are all financial assets, all money on deposit at banks, all stocks and bonds, and hence, all underlying property of all public corporations, including all inventories, plant and equipment, land, mineral deposits, inventions and intellectual property…. If even partially successful, this will be the greatest conquest and subjugation in world history.” ___ David Rogers Webb

“We didn’t truly know the dangers in derivatives, because it was a dark market. There was no transparency. But generally, in any financial market, if there is not…