6 'safe' moves that put you at risk

Is there an index fund that tracks Wall Street bonuses?

That would seem like a pretty safe bet that goes up at least 10% each year.

It would be hard to overstate the recklessness of these banks.  The numbers that you are about to see are absolutely jaw-dropping.  According to the controller, four of the largest U.S. banks are walking a tightrope of risk, leverage and debt when it comes to derivatives.  Just check out how exposed they are...

JPMorgan Chase

Total Assets: $1,812,837,000,000 (just over 1.8 trillion dollars)

Total Exposure To Derivatives: $69,238,349,000,000 (more than 69 trillion dollars)

Citibank

Total Assets: $1,347,841,000,000 (a bit more than 1.3 trillion dollars)

Total Exposure To Derivatives: $52,150,970,000,000 (more than 52 trillion dollars)

Bank Of America

Total Assets: $1,445,093,000,000 (a bit more than 1.4 trillion dollars)

Total Exposure To Derivatives: $44,405,372,000,000 (more than 44 trillion dollars)

Goldman Sachs

Total Assets: $114,693,000,000 (a bit more than 114 billion dollars - yes, you read that correctly)

Total Exposure To Derivatives: $41,580,395,000,000 (more than 41 trillion dollars)

That means that the total exposure that Goldman Sachs has to derivatives contracts is more than 362 times greater than their total assets.

Without a doubt, a derivatives panic is coming.

It will cause the financial markets to crash.

Several of the "too big to fail" banks will likely crash and burn and require bailouts.

As a result of all this, credit markets will become paralyzed by fear and freeze up.

Once again, we will see the U.S. economy go into cardiac arrest, only this time it will not be so easy to fix.

http://www.silverbea​rcafe.com/private/12​.12/comingpanic.html​

Anthony

While I agree with most of what you say, I'm not sure about the housing market. You say it stabilized? Perhaps, maybe, possibly, it just temporarily stopped falling. Unless people find good jobs it could just keep falling. My neighbor retired and listed his house over 4 years ago and said he is headed for Florida. He is still here in Jersey. He has been chasing the price down, constantly hoping to sell after each drop only to drop it again.

And we pretty much agree on Gold or Prescious Metals. I can't argue with your other positions, I agree with them..

And you could throw in a bad word for all those folks getting suckered into Annuities. If Quality stocks don't have high yields and banks have no yields, those folks that are buying Annuities better grab their ankles and hold on tight!

The problem I see in the Nation is poor Leadership, muslim loving anti American Leadership at that!. Obozo can't see the problem because he has his head too far up his butt. Liberals can't agree with Conservatives. Congress like wise can't get their heads out of there own butts.

Shortly after Ed Rendell loyally complimented Obozo's Cash for Clunkers, Governor Rendell said, "But what I would have done is put people to work on America's infrastructure". Rendell may be one of a very few Democrats I would ever vote for, but evidently even his own party doesn't listen to him.

But God Bless Helicopter Ben, he's the man gonna make Gold rise as soon as he creates another couple zillion dollars.

One day the chickens will come home to roost and lay a golden egg..

Sorry AZ Blond

If you are as smart as you say you are you would know that through the history of our market economy it is cycle of ebbs and flows. The cycles of Bear and Bull run about six to seven years. Yes the individual investor needs to know when to hold them and when to fold them like a good poker player. The political players in DC have very little to do with the overall market performance other than the daily dalliances of the fear and euphoria of the average unskilled investor. What I have found is I seem to have good to average performance other than when in 2007 the housing market tanked on a thirty year old deal the banks and mortgage companies made with the Carter Administration, which basically gave said banks and mortgage companies less regulation in exchange for more lenient lending practices to lower income and minority applicants. Look where that got us when they started to default which in turn caused the housing market to tumble, followed by jobs and so on. The markets if you watched had started to tumble post 9/11 to bottom out in 2006 and had started their upward trend with a minor blurb due to the housing crisis and has since made a correction. Only a fool will think that because of Obama this high flying market will continue throughout his administration. It will however trend downward again in its normal cycle. A smart investor will be able hedge this and suffer minimal damage. The only people who will surely suffer under Obama's jobless economy are the working middle class. The poor never suffer under any administration because of the safeguards put in place decades ago. At least Romney, who is not a career politician (he in fact did really want the presidency, just to help a struggling economy and middle class which he realizes is the backbone of our economy), knows what it takes to create real good paying jobs and has the connections to do so. Why do you think Obama had a private sit down lunch after the election with Romney and if you notice the media was never privy to the details of said meeting. Hopefully Obama paid some heed and will not be the self-righteous, arrogant **** he appears to be. To tell me that we are better off under the job killing policies of this administration shows that you and those like you Madam are a fools!