CHAPTER ONE
Financial WMDs – derivatives demagoguery
In 2003 there was a debate about financial WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) – derivatives. I have been around derivatives all my working life and was unaware that I had been handling WMDs. The Indonesians probably agreed with this description of derivatives: they should have worn their hazardous materials suits when handling their trades. The debate was between two giants of American capitalism – Warren Buffett and Alan Greenspan. Warren Buffett is ostensibly the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, basically an investment company, and his fame relates primarily to his legendary stock picking skills. But it is a tendency for folksy wisdom that has turned Buffett into an iconic figure – an ...
Get Traders, Guns and Money, 3rd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.