This.Q. What are the risks posed by credit-default swaps?
A. The first risk is their sheer size. Writing in Sunday's New York Times, Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, estimated there were $55 trillion in credit-default swaps outstanding, which is
larger than the combined gross domestic product of every country on Earth.
WUT. IT DOES NOT TAKE ADVANCED DEGREES IN FINANCE TO SEE THAT THIS MIGHT BE A FREAKING PROBLEM, PEOPLE!