To: nathanbedford
The very first sentence of the author's article reads: Derivative contracts total about three-quarters of a quadrillion dollars in "notional" amounts, according to the Bank for International Settlements. But I thought the whole point of the article was that nobody knows the character or extent of these Derivatives and that was a great part of the problem:. The author continues in the next sentence: These contracts are tallied in notional values because no one really can say how much they are worth. Thanks. I searched the article using "700 trillion" instead of "three-quarters of a quadrillion".
It's interesting to note that as late as June 2006, OTC derivatives as listed by BIS had a value of a relatively smaller $370 trillion.
link
To: FreeReign; Ernest_at_the_Beach
Ernest_at_the_Beach has kindly provided a link to the bank data.
Have a look at his post number 21. My eyes are starting to get computer screen bleary but I draw the overall impression that it ain't good.
![](http://schetula.de/schule/ltg_informatik_forum/files/nathan_bedford_forrest.jpg)
26 posted on
03/07/2009 10:54:41 AM PST by
nathanbedford
("Attack, repeat attack!" Bull Halsey)
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