Naked Cds

The entire world GDP is a little over $60 trillion. The secret, unregulated casino market of derivatives is worth $605 trillion. Now, who thinks that makes sense?

If there is one thing we need to accomplish for the good of our economy, it is the permanent discrediting of Robert Rubin. His policies fostered economic disaster, and in business he was a clever but irresponsibly reckless gambler.

When we paid $62 billion to AIG "counterparties," we weren't saving the economy, we were paying off the bookies. The money we gave them didn't go toward saving one house or one mortgage -- it went to Wall Street.

Buying a five year naked CDS is like buying life insurance on a stranger. It is not legal for individuals and should be treated similarly for companies.

I would love for Tim Geithner or anyone else in the administration or Congress to explain why they think these naked Credit Default Swaps must be paid off.