quintillions of dollars in derivatives and l'affaire ClearStream

[MsMotoconcho]

550 b'zillion

[stefbreuer]

clearstram is not a bank account ...

[stickfiguresmaster]

1,10,100,1,000,10,000,100,000,­1,000,000,10,000,000,100,000,0­00,1,000,000,000,10,000,000,00­0,100,000,000,000,1,000,000,00­0,000,10,000,000,000,000,100,0­00,000,000,000,1,000,000,000,0­00,000,10,000,000,000,000,000,­100,000,000,000,000,000,1,000,­000,000,000,000,000 one ten hundred thousand 10k 100k million 10m 100m billion 10billion 100billion trillion 10trillion 100trillion 1quitillion 10quintillion 100quintillion 1 quadrillion 10quadrillion 100quadrillion.

[MrWsad]

@stickfiguresmaster IDIOT.

:)

Million<billion<trillion<quadr­illion<quintillion

bi = 2

tri = 3

quad = 4

quintillion = 5

[stickfiguresmaster]

@MrWsad I LIKE COOKIES :D!

[hatch381]

Damn! Im still trying to get my head around trillions. Why dont we just quit counting in these ridiculous amounts of fiat dollars? I can understand a few thousand ounces.

[yaplonglong]

@hatch381

1m = 1,000,000

1b = 1,000,000,000

1t = 1,000,000,000,000

1qt= 1,000,000,000,000,000

that's it - QED

Anything beyond that is galactical!

[mcapps1]

Physical gold and silver is the important investment. Paper gold and silver? LOL

The stock market is a scam to rape your savings, what makes you think "paper" gold/silver is any better or more secure. Real gold, real silver, guns, ammunition, tools, and food are your safest bets. Collapse IS imminent, maybe not this month or this year even but it is INEVITABLE and resistance is futile. You sold your soul to the devil and he's coming to collect. Protect your family now.

[Charmer4856]

QUINTILLION...can u believe this shit? How many damn zeros is that?

[justjacqueline2004]

Derivatives are toxic.Synthetic derivatives will be used by Goldman Sachs to loot countries,first on the list Greece.

[AndyMH182]

The only derivatives that are toxic are ones that are not traded on an exchange, that had bogus credit ratings.

CDS's were sold with AAA ratings, same as that of the U.S. government. When they went bust, pensions, countries and anyone else who was sold this garbage had huge gaping holes in their balance sheets.

Not all derivatives are like that. Only OTC derivatives are potentially toxic.

[bunsh1ch1]

@AndyMH182 - Do you know if the derivates on COMEX are real? If everyone took delivery of their gold would every contract be met?

[Rizky06]

@AndyMH182

Declare a Force Majeure on ALL Derivatives. They are Financial WMD's.

Why should any Financial Terrorist be paid off....

[AndyMH182]

Not all derivatives are Financial WMDs.

Futures and Forwards and Swaps are all perfectly fine.

It's when people start creating exotic derivatives better on the implosion of someone else, while selling toxic MBSs that we have a problem. It's called fraud.

The problem is getting our government to prosecute these people, not derivatives. If AIG can't pay up, or any other institution takes a loss from the collapse of housing, so be it. Let them take the losses and go bankrupt.

[mongoose704]

@AndyMH182

Prosecution. Some say we weren't regulated enough. They are only partly right. We have way too many rules so that isn't the problem. Derivatives were addressed in Sarbane Oxley. The problem is there is almost zero enforcement of the rules. What incentive is there to recognize a rule unless humans bring about consequences? Nature NEVER enforces. Without enforcement, there are no rules at all. That's my beef with anarchism: Rules but no rulers? I'm minarchist. 

[AndyMH182]

You guys, derivatives are all zero-sum contracts. The derivative market is actually closer to 500 trillion dollars, but for every long position, there is a short position. 

Don't be scared about the size of the derivatives market.

[mlndstream]

So what threat if any do derivatives pose? for instance how do they effect Inflation vs Deflation if at all?

[AndyMH182]

certain types of derivatives pose a threat, as they were traded OTC, without being traded to find the true value. CDS's, for instance, were responsible for huge losses in bank balance sheets, as the true value of what was being sold had bogus ratings.

Derivatives may distort pricing for legitimate hedgers, driving up the price to hedge. But in the end, all derivatives are "side bets", that don't really affect spot prices of commodities and indexes.

[AndyMH182]

They won't have a direct impact on inflation/deflation.  That has to do with declining consumer/commercial access to credit and actions of the central banks.

[mlndstream]

So if the banks made huge losses, then there must have been a winner on the other side of that loss somewhere?, because if there was only a loss in terms of monetary value, then that would mean a wipe out of money, which would be deflationary, but if there was a winner on the other end of it somewhere then that would be a creation of money, so if there is a winner for every loser then its more of a transfer of wealth would you say?

[mlndstream]

also, what chance do you think there is there of more derivatives of that type causing banks huge losses again? I keep hearing that it was the derivatives associated with sub prime mortgages that were the real cause of all the deflation last time around, but there is still an even larger wave of Alt-A, and Option ARMs left to have their interest rates reset upwards into 2011, and there's bound to be derivatives associated with them too unless this risk has been fixed by now?

[uhf21]

@uhf21

well in short, a big number, lol

[Djelomou]

Waoo if De Villepin gots electd I might consider going back to France :)

[centervilletn]

sarkozy says he will use his position as G20 president to call for a new Bretton Woods to remove the dollar as the world reserve currency...

[fatpius]

*****5 etc

[whiskerchild]

I can't keep up with all the intrigue, but it's mind-boggling to know we're at quintillion in the derivatives. But that's what "exponential" is all about, isn't it?

[benfaysal23]

The entire French previous and current government is entangled in the L'affaire ClearStream, Sarkozy is doing everything in his power to never testifies before court..