Comment Text:
I am retired, do not and have never traded derivatives other than call options. As a small investor who lost a lot of money during the financial debacle, I have grave concern that regulatory changes will add bureaucracy but not fix the problem.
Two imperatives in my view.
1. All derivatives must be traded on a regulated open market in full transparency.
2. There is a prohibition to any entity buying credit default swaps in any company unless they have a commensurate legal financial interest in the company. In short, the lottery is closed. Anyone buying swaps should have 'skin in the game'.
Americans demand stability in the financial systems. We are not interested in preserving the opportunities for speculators to enrich themselves. Most financial transactions are simply 'transactional', producing little or no real economic value, more akin to churning. This has to stop and people who create fundamental value - i.e. find, mine, invent, create, produce wealth - need to be rewarded.
Truth in lending ... I am a centrist capitalist but the rules of the game must be redrawn.
