How does this compare to other experiments?
There was the dot com bubble. Zero profit equities were laying fiber optic cable around the world. Equities were selling for 10,000 times earnings.
Long Term Capital, an original derivitive scams, tried to leverage the world.
Keating and his cohorts in the savings and loan scam sold real estate to each other after appraising their own property.
More?
yitbos
One difference is that the big investment houses were competing with banks for credit facilities. Not just housing but lending to large corporations.