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"200T in derivatives in banks"

Are derivatives really a form of debt? I understand that derivatives carry risk, and now we've seen they carry much more risk than the financial world thought. But surely some percentage of those 200T in derivatives offset each other?

Still, a sobering analysis.

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The total PFE (potential future exposure) off of those 200T in derivatives is only about 8.5T (from the Q4 OCC website) (hence the need for the gov't to put out 9T in stimulus)

One thing to note, the total PFE was thought to be around 500 billion prior to the bubble collapsing, so even this analysis may end up being incorrect.

Most of those derivatives are the 'toxic assets' that everyone talks about, essentially houses that are built with no one to pay for them.

Most? I wouldn't go that far. Credit default swaps in general are as much at fault as collateralized mortgage obligations specifically.

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