An unregulated derivatives market essentially gives Wall Street a way to place hidden taxes on everything in the world.
Chart of the Day: JP Morgan’s Derivatives Loss vs. Estimated Cost of Regulations
Quote of the Day: Sheila Bair
Note that MF Global apparently used repo financing to move those high-risk bonds off its balance sheet, making its capital position look better than it was. Hmm. Didn’t Lehman also use the artifice of repo financing to dress up its balance sheet? Why don’t accountants fix this stuff?
— Sheila Bair (former FDIC Chairwoman)