Opacity on extreme levels is not addressed anywhere, including Dodd-Frank.
The bottom line is that the euro is a failed experiment.
Imagine how much capital a country like Argentina might attract - if instead of defaulting seriatim and affecting a pose of anger toward creditors, it borrowed responsibly and honored its obligations.
In both the U.S. and Europe, the budget and balance sheet numbers do not work. When 'off-balance sheet' promises are taken into account, the U.S. and most countries of the Euro zone are insolvent.
Check out London, Manhattan, Aspen and East Hampton real estate prices, as well as high-end art prices, to see what the leading edge of hyperinflation could look like.
'Inequality' has become the political theme/slogan of our time in both Europe and the U.S., yet political leaders do not even bother to consider that their own policies, which put the entire burden on central bankers to print money and drive up stock, bond and other asset prices, are actually exacerbating income and wealth disparity.
What you have in legacy countries is long-term insolvency.
I've never let my guard down by saying, 'I don't need to be hedged.'
Individual liberty, the basic underpinning of American society, requires constant defense against the encroachment of the state.
Margin is a customer concept.
What I think about derivatives is if every institution that owns or trades them is properly margined and marked to market, including end-users, including every institution, including sovereigns and multilateral institutions, then the system would be safe - if people were margined the way customers of investment banks are margined.
Obviously, the institution of marriage in America has utterly collapsed.
There's a feeling among some people that the Republican party is harsh on some things.
So many people, including stark conservatives, have family members and close friends who are gay.
My concern as a citizen and as a money manager is, Oh my God, at what point does a 'whoa' moment happen to these people who own $30 trillion fixed income instruments?
I'm rarely optimistic.
Resentment is not morally superior to earning money.
