He's big, really big.
He's so big they call him the London Whale.
His name is Bruno Iksil and he works in the London offices of JP Morgan.
Having failed in their 2008 attempt to derail the worlds financial system, the gnomes in the Rumpelstiltskin Economy are having another go at it, and Iksil is the chief straw-spinner of the moment.
The London Whale is so busy in the credit derivatives market that the entire 10 trillion dollar edifice is trembling.
Credit derivatives. Little nutritional value. Won't keep you warm on a cold winter night. Won't fix your toothache or your migraine. Very little practical value at all when you get down to it.
But they do serve to make the gnomes very wealthy. Any derivatives trader worth his salt takes home a bigger pay packet in a year than a teacher or a nurse or a plumber is going to take home in their lifetime.
And when things go wrong we all pay.
Meanwhile, JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon is super busy these days lobbying against new regulations that are intended to prevent the catastrophic melt-down we saw in 2008.
I'm sensing deja vu all over again...
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