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The 2008 Crash was caused by the unregulated derivatives markets. And if you think that problem has been fixed, you’re mistaken.

Consider Deutsche Bank (DB).

DB sits atop the largest derivatives book in the world.

This one bank has over  $75 trillion in derivatives on its balance sheet. This is over 20 times German GDP and roughly the same size as global GDP.

At this size, if even 0.01% of these derivatives are “at risk,” you’ve wiped ALL of the banks’ capital.

Submitted by Patrick Watson via MauldinEconomics.com,

Negative interest rates are all the rage at central banks, a symptom of the deflation that is slowing spreading worldwide. The Bank of Japan, European Central Bank, and Swiss National Bank already peg rates below zero. Even if the Federal Reserve doesn't formally join them, US rates are solidly negative in real terms. 

Moments ago, the Fed's discount rate minutes for the months of March/April suggested that a rate hike may be indeed closer than some expect, because after just two regional Feds - those of Richmond Fed and Kansas City - requested an increase in the rate charged on direct loans from the central bank to 1.25% from 1% in the Feb/March meeting, this number doubled to four, with the inclusion of the San Fran and Cleveland Feds joining the group of regional Feds pushing for a 25 bps rate hike to the discount rate.

By EconMatters

This isn`t the first time Goldman Sachs has tried to hide behind the notion of a "Chinese Wall" in a defense against an apparent conflict of interests. It is theoretically possible that this analyst operated in a complete vacuum at Goldman Sachs, but how likely is this fact given how interconnected Investment Banking activities are these days?

When we warned recently that thanks to Obamacare, insurance companies would be unveiling significant price shocks one week before the presidential elections, we knew it was only a matter of time before the 2017 proposals would start to be released and double digit increases would be unveiled to the public.

Sure enough, we were proven right when the first two states to release proposals, Oregon and Virginia, showed that insurers were indeed asking for significant double digit increases.