You are not serious ?! Which derivative buyers and sellers don't hedge themselves in the open exchanges? Perhaps other than the idiots at AIG, most participants will take positions through the market in order to maximize their gains and minimize their losses. Without the underlying structures in the market, no one would have taken a position in a derivative market in the first place.Quote from FightTheFuture:
You are another one of them.
The stock market and exchanges, exchange traded derivatives, and traders who trade those instruments have been taxed through fees to operate and regulate on the behalf of those that use it. Those that are not using this part of the financial system are the ones that caused the financial disaster.
This part of the financial system has been completely self-sustaining throughout this financial crisis and are not even indirectly responsible for causing this crisis.
Think of it this way: if AIG, C, BAC, MS, GS, MER, LEH, BSC were private companies, very few in the general public would really care what happens to them.