I used to play Pick up Sticks when I was a kid. I remember trying to keep my hand from shaking while I carefully lifted those little wooden sticks up one at a time so as not to upset any of the other sticks. One wrong move and you could wreck the whole stack.
It’s hard to contemplate the web derivatives weave through the economy, but it sounds like we are walking on thin ice with any decision or manipulation of the market. Do you think it’s impossible to predict the tipping point or the cause that will send these derivatives crashing down?
Again, thanks for your patient explanations.
They crashed in July 2007. At first it was a snowball at the top of a very tall mountain. As it began rolling it became more massive.
That snowball rolled over some very big companies these last couple of weeks. It's not moving fast, but it's wiping out everything in its way. The bailout money will be consumed quickly and we will be right back where we are, but with a larger snowball.