While I disagree with the characterization of Paulson not disclosing that the current crisis is about derivatives, this blog post has some interesting plans as well as statistics on asset to derivatives ratios.
Warning, this graph will make your hair stand up!
As Butler notes:
The $68 Trillion chain reaction could start
and that is assuredly what Paulson and Bernanke are trying to avoid.
See my new post on goods vs money
I think there's a deeper cause that we're not all seeing....
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Maximum jobs, not maximum profits.
i don't think so
They leveraged because they were so focused in on quarterly profits and keeping that bubble going as well as their new unregulated shadow banking system which enabled them to keep losses off the books. Read about how derivatives work and how one didn't even need to have the money on hand to back up the asset while one collected the insurance premiums on those assets.