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A comment on A visualisation of all of the money in the world. Parent comment

Re:A visualisation of all of the money in the world by rayiner on Friday December 18, 2015 @10:24AM (#10758887)
I'll note that the article doesn't have a giant box for the combined value of all insurance policies, maybe because it's obvious that having $100,000 liability policy for your car insurance doesn't sound technical and scary like "derivative."

What blows my mind is that it seems like everyone in the media has taken this obviously incorrect premise and run with it.

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Re:A visualisation of all of the money in the world by Zigurd on Sunday December 20, 2015 @05:27PM (#10768549)
The problem with derivatives is that they are functionally very similar or identical to insurance. But, because they are sold under a different name, the capital requirements for selling insurance do not apply. Insurance is less scary for a reason. Higher capital requirements, and less concentration of risk, means that insurance can't blow up the world economy.
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