Financial Gimmicks extend to movie futures

WTF?

I had spoken of it earlier in jest. Now in a surreal moment of utter stupidity, the US has actually approved a futures market based on trading forecasts of movie box office receipts. The Trend exchange as it is to be called was authorized by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  Imagine all your retirement money being placed on a bet that Nicole Kidman can make a hit movie.  To their credit the major Hollywood studios are in opposition.

But, the cretins in charge of American finance are hot to open up a brave new world of gambling disguised as investment. This is unbelievable in any time – but now, on the heels of a world class financial calamity brought about by exactly this kind of overinflated under regulated financial pixy dust.  Their is not a single logical reason to do this and certainly not now in a time of financial chaos.  This idea is even worse than the usual futures trading schemes.

Even I, who hold most of our leaders to be utter imbeciles – find this new market for 2 card monty finance beyond credence. Most of the people running the capital markets in America have the brains and morals of used car salesmen.  I would say they were operating way over their pay grade, but that is clearly a tragic misnomer in their case.  This has all the financial folly of the last disaster of synthetic assets and convaluted market manipulations all rolled up into a shiney new package.

Not that the snake oil salesmen of Wall Street can be held solely to blame. This is also proof that not a single effective measure has been taken to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial meltdown. Despite noble efforts by Elizabeth Warren and a tiny few other voices in the wind, the government has not done a thing to regulate the travesty that is our investment and capital markets.

I do not know how to respond to this other than to warn anyone with have a brain to go running from securities into whatever market you think may bring you safety. If it means putting your cash under your mattress, then so be it. At the rate we are going, the financial market will become in reality the beanie baby trading floor it already is in concept.

We are on a train to utter ruin and no one is willing to put on the brakes. Next stop – the American meltdown.