A Beautiful Day in the USA
The NY Times published yet another investigative report about derivatives, the popular Wall Street investment scheme with more than $500 trillion invested, according to PBS Frontline, Derivatives are especially volatile because most of these trades occur behind closed doors, beyond the reach of regulators, where it is difficult to detect frauds like Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzie scheme. Derivatives recently played a big role in the financial meltdowns of Wall Street giants.1
According to the NY Times, an elite few are controlling these huge investments:
On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan. The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable — and controversial — fields in finance. They also share a common secret: The details of their meetings, even their identities, have been strictly confidential. (“A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives”, by Louis Story, NY Times, 12/11/2010.)
The reporter is merely describing (and documenting) the continuation of the scenario that brought us the 9/2008 financial meltdown. The secrecy surrounding derivatives is well-documented and a source of great controversy in Washington politics, according to PBS Frontline.2
Below is the video presented at a Central Teaching as part of our series on King David. It surveys the fragile nature of our world, even in America. The music is “A Beautiful Day” by The Orb, which quotes from 2 Peter 3: “the elements shall melt.”
[flv]http://repo.freedomfellowships.org/public/video/beautifulday0_conv.flv[/flv]
- See “The Warning” at PBS Frontline an amazing report on the unregulated derivatives market. [↩]
- See PBS Frontline – The Warning., where the Commodity Futures Trading Commission tried to regulate the trading of these derivatives. [↩]