<t>I agree with katastrofa - about margins and exchange clearing - but I just haven't thought of a way this could really work. Cash margin required separately for each CDS could work (in theory), but if strictly implemented wouldn't the premiums be excessively high? (for ROA) If other assets could b...

<t>I'm not sure I disagree with Taleb. It just seems like an obvious case of "who will watch the watchers?"If you buy a CDS, you're just trading some existing risk exposure for counterparty risk.If I have $1 billion in cash and sell Bob a $1 billion CDS, that's great. But what's to stop me from also...

<t>IMO these are the biggest scams running (apparently among many!) in financial markets. I can't understand why these firms seemingly have any credibility left at all. Most likely just another part of the epic dog and pony show. Anybody who seriously values a company does their own due diligence an...

<r>He probably made some mistakes. He has been my instructor in the past.He's a really smart guy and I liked his approach to teaching, but he would sometimes make enough small errors and have to start over.Also - would you mind sending that .xls file to <EMAIL email="mammonmachine@hotmail.com">mammo...

<t>I'm trying to learn here - Does "bottom-up" mean that currency only gets created when production happens versus our current system? (borrow 'fake' fiat money, be productive, then pay off the loan)I watched an interesting video lately which made the claim that if there were no debt there would be ...

<t>"The problem is when governments bail out the dead wood."That nails it, right there imo.The problem in my experience is almost never lack of law or regulation, it's lack of enforcement. Or even worse, selective enforcement. (Bullies have the bigger lobbyists)I'm glad a lot of other people noticed...

<t>I think the problem in the world, everywhere, is that there are too many damn people. There are too many smart people arbitraging any new development and too many dumb people who need to have their hands held. We are all familiar with mathematics here; the world is now colonized and exponential g...

MFE programs are crap in the same way that chiropractors are crap IMO. Probably won't hurt, but will only truly benefit a tiny % of customers and will definitely cost a LOT.

<t>I searched but did not find any threads which address specifically this.I suspect that in general usage the word 'quant' has become much like the word 'analyst' - a weasel word with almost no inherent meaning. The devil is in the details. So, I seek opinions in this forum about what constitutes a...