Derivatives | The Unregulated Global Casino for Banks

This is 1 Trillion Dollars.
Source: Demonocracy.info

SHORT STORY: Pick something of value, make bets on the future value of "something", add contract & you have a derivative. Banks make massive profits on derivatives, and when the bubble bursts chances are the tax payer will end up with the bill. This visualizes the total coverage for derivatives (notional). Similar to insurance company's total coverage for all cars. 

LONG STORY: A derivative is a legal bet (contract) that derives its value from another asset, such as the future or current value of oil, government bonds or anything else. Ex- A derivative buys you the option (but not obligation) to buy oil in 6 months for today's price/any agreed price, hoping that oil will cost more in future. (I'll bet you it'll cost more in 6 months). Derivative can also be used as insurance, betting that a loan will or won't default before a given date. So its a big betting system, like a Casino, but instead of betting on cards and roulette, you bet on future values and performance of practically anything that holds value. The system is not regulated what-so-ever, and you can buy a derivative on an existing derivative.

Most large banks try to prevent smaller investors from gaining access to the derivative market on the basis of there being too much risk. The derivatives market has blown a galactic bubble, just like the real estate bubble or stock market bubble (that's going on right now). Since there is literally no economist in the world that knows exactly how the derivative money flows or how the system works, while derivatives are traded in microseconds by computers, we really don't know what will trigger the crash, or when it will happen, but considering the global financial crisis this system is in for tough times, that will be catastrophic for the world financial system since the 9 largest US-banks shown below hold a total of $228.72 trillion in Derivatives - Approximately 3 times the entire world economy (see chart below). No government in world has money for this bailout. More detailed information on these 9 banks HERE

The unregulated market presents a massive financial risk. The corruption and immorality of the banks makes the situation worse. If you don't want to bank with these banks, but want to have access to free ATM's anywhere - most Credit Unions in USA are in the CO-OP ATM network, where all ATM's are free to any COOP CU member and most support depositing checks. The Credit Unions are like banks, but invest all their profits to give members lower rates and better service. They don't have shareholders to worry about or have derivatives to purchase and sell. Keep an eye out in the news for "derivative crisis", as the crisis is inevitable with current falling value of most real assets. 
 

9 Biggest US-Banks' Derivative Exposure - $228.72 Trillion
Source: Demonocracy.info

The Global Financial Ponzi Scheme

$1,280,000,000,000 = There is only 1.28 trillion dollars worth of U.S. currency floating around out there.
$17,555,165,805,212.27 = 17.5 trillion dollars is the size of the U.S. national debt. It has grown by more than 10 trillion dollars over the past ten years.
$32,000,000,000,000 = 32 trillion dollars  is the total amount of money that the global elite have stashed in offshore banks (that we know about).
$48,611,684,000,000 = 48 trillion dollars is the total exposure that Goldman Sachs has to derivatives contracts.
$59,398,590,000,000 = 59.4 trillion dollars is the total amount of debt (government, 

corporate, consumer, etc.) in the U.S. financial system.  40 years ago, this number was just a little bit above 2 trillion dollars.
$70,088,625,000,000 = 70 trillion dollars is the total exposure that JPMorgan Chase has to derivatives contracts.
$71,830,000,000,000 = 71.8 trillion dollars is the approximate size of the GDP of the entire world.
$75,000,000,000,000 = 75 trillion dollars is approximately the total exposure that German banking giant Deutsche Bank has to derivatives contracts.
$100,000,000,000,000 = 100 trillion dollars is the total amount of government debt in the entire world.  This amount has grown by $30 trillion just since mid-2007.
$223,300,000,000,000 = 223.3 trillion dollars is the approximate size of the total amount of debt in the entire world.
$236,637,271,000,000 = 223.3 trillion dollars is - according to the U.S. government - the total exposure that the top 25 banks in the United States have to derivatives contracts.  But those banks only have total assets of about 9.4 trillion dollars combined.  In other words, the exposure of our largest banks to derivatives outweighs their total assets by a ratio of about 25 to 1.
$710,000,000,000,000 to $1,500,000,000,000,000 = 710 to 1,500 trillion dollars are the estimates of the total notional value of all global derivatives contracts.  At the high end of the range, the ratio of derivatives exposure to global GDP is about 21 to 1. Credits: Michael Snyder

Hitting the Fan | Deutsche Bank in Pre-Infarct State of Imminent Bankruptcy

On June 7, immediately following Greece’s missed payment to the IMF,
Deutsche Bank’s two CEOs announce their surprise departure from the
company (HERE)

Deutsche Bank is the 12th biggest bank worldwide and harbours USD 75 trillion in derivatives bets — an amount twenty times greater than the German GDP (USD 3.64 trillion in 2014). Deutsche Bank is the world’s largest  holder of derivatives exposure and dwarfs J.P. Morgan’s exposure by USD 5 trillion (HERE). Deutsche Bank - along other global banks - was engaged in a slew of corrupt practices from manipulation of interest rates (for which the firm was fined USD 2.5 billion in April 2015), to tax evasion and money laundering to “mis-selling” of derivatives. 

If Greece defaults at the end of June, Deutsche Bank will lose 50 to 100 billion Euros in Greek bonds and be caught off-side in its derivatives positions. And there is no government nor institution on earth to bail it out. 
More HERE