Frank Partnoy on credit swaps, derivatives, deregulation, Phil Gramm, CMFA, etc.--nrvu w/Terry Gross

[eppur_se_muova]

I was listening to this interview on the radio earlier today. Well worth a listen.

Sorry, no transcript yet.

Fresh Air from WHYY, March 25, 2009 · Years before the current economic crisis, law professor and former Wall Street trader Frank Partnoy was warning about the dangers of risky financial practices.

In his 1997 book FIASCO: Blood in the Water on Wall Street, Partnoy detailed how derivatives — financial instruments whose value is determined by another security — were being used and abused by big financial firms. Partnoy used his experiences as a derivatives trader at Morgan Stanley to give the book an insider's perspective. In the preface to FIASCO, Partnoy wrote about the growing influence of derivatives:

"Derivatives have become the largest market in the world. The size of the derivatives market, estimated at $55 trillion in 1996, is double the value of all U.S. stocks and more than 10 times the entire U.S. national debt. Meanwhile, derivatives losses continue to multiply."

Partnoy is a professor at the University of San Diego law school. In addition to FIASCO, he's the author of Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets.

Partnoy joins Fresh Air to explain derivatives, credit default swaps and how they led to the current financial crisis.



http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102325715

An excerpt from the book is also at the link.

[Oilwellian]

1. So few insiders have told the truth

Partnoy seems very credible as well. Thanks for the heads up.