Sabri Oncu provided some unhelpful comments about my queries on derivatives.
1) If he were advising the government of Cuba would he immediately recommend it drop its sugar derivatives program -- and, by extension, advise other poor countries to do the same in relation to their own resources? 2) It's not enough to sarcastically point to the dangers they pose to the world economy. What can be done about what the bourgeoisie itself, notably Warren Buffet, describes as a ticking time bomb? Anything? -- a) prohibit the $130 trillion trade in derivatives altogether (fat chance), b) endorse efforts to regulate the the more exotic opaque instruments by requiring greater transparency and mark-to-market accounting standards, or c) wait for the whole house of cards to collapse so we can say "told you so". I have a genuine interest in the issue, want to know more about it, and have no ax to grind. I think it was good of Juriann Bendian to raise it, and bad for Sabri to curtly dismiss his effort as a "bad essay" without any explanation except "derivative are dangerous" (indeed) and to invite me to kiss his sweet cheeks for pursuing the thread. Marv Gandall
