The semi-regulated derivatives market is around 650 trillion dollars in value and when it let out a SMALL burp back in late 2007 the world financial markets seized up (Banks quit trading with banks) and nearly died (it was a three week span in Dec. 2007). About 400+ trillion derivatives just stopped trading. The EU and US banker big shots were running around looking for places to hide. Supposedly that bubble monster was tamed and shadow banking was taken in hand - for example by the US congress. Of course it was all just smoke and mirrors.
Even though markets like Wall Street HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT GLOBAL MARKET NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE - the mega-corporate-media has since then managed to paint into everyone's mind that the trouble began on Wall Street. Or that it began in August 2007. It did not. It began with Bear Sterns when the Big Kahunas thought to float a test balloon by trying to sell a tiny amount of financial banking toilet paper on the open market (something that had never been done) near the end of June 2007. The trouble was that most banks - especially the big ones - had been using that untested toilet paper as the basis of their bank's value. That is where the disaster began. because the selling of that Bear Sterns toilet paper fell in price until there were no takers - the price had fallen to zero. By July I watched as hundreds of $10,000 suits were running around like scared chickens trying to find ways to unload many versions of such toilet paper. August 2007 was merely the point where the media had a hard time hiding the disaster from the common news. Yet I did not see the alternative media really catch on till about October 2007.
The derivatives market simply papered over their trouble with about 150 trillion bucks of new toilet paper. Now the market is today rated at about 650 trillion bucks give or take 70 trillion depending on what month and year. But the REAL derivatives market that includes all derivatives - including those that ride out side the so-called regulated markets, is actually at this time 1.5 Quadrillion dollars. Been about that since 2009.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/freeze-...recovery/12947
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article21764.html
It is also the real reason Greece has been made to chew on itself and why Italy and Spain must suffer needlessly.
Yes, it is unlikely that the total derivative market could collapse - baring an alien invasion from space. But the point is it only needs to catch a cold and all the nations of the earth (except perhaps Iceland) will wake up and find that their ATM machines are on the blink, and that all their bank accounts are locked down. I doubt the cell phones will work for more than a few days after that point either.
The derivatives market just froze for a few weeks (really just a speed bump) in Dec. 2007 and the result was what we now call the Great Recession. Most people at the time were paying little to no attention. All the corporate news media were saying idiotic things back then, like "All eyes are on Wall Street!" As I recall the full amount of all the stock markets added together in 2007 was something really just chump change compared to the full derivatives market. It was a financial banking melt down, and stocks were actually doing ok for the most part. Wall Street had next to nothing to do with it. The GDP for the whole world in 2007-2008 was somewhere between 60 to 70 trillion per year. As I recall it would have taken the entire world about 22 years working night and day - eating NOTHING - paying for nothing else - not taking time to sleep - just to pay off the full derivatives market in 2009.
Of course the whole derivatives market will never completely fall. But it could burp again. It might even have a major seizure. If that happens you might want to cast any gold you have around the house into bullets. Because that's what you'd be needing most.
UK pull out of EU? Who cares? The Big Bankers know better.