Summary Box: How derivatives, little-understood but key to financial system, circle the globe
By APMonday, June 7, 2010
Summary Box: A derivative’s journey, Brazil to US
WHY CARE ABOUT DERIVATIVES: They affect the price of nearly everything we buy — a steak at a restaurant, bread at the supermarket, gas for our cars.
WHAT THEY DO: With them, you can bet on virtually anything — commodities prices, interest rates, even the popularity of David Bowie songs.
WHY THE CRACKDOWN: Congress is looking to regulate derivatives because they are behind nearly every financial blowup in recent years, from the bankruptcy of Orange County, Calif., in 1994 to the collapse of the housing market.
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