Betting on the House

By Econ70 | 04/06/2012
A man in a suit and bow tie sitting down.

The Friday File: In an inexplicable move, the CFTC denied a request by the North American Derivatives Exchange to offer futures contracts on which party will win control of the House, Senate and White House. The CFTC said these derivates involve gaming and are thus contrary to the public interest. What? Every financial instrument can…

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Sneaky Securities Scam

By Econ70 | 11/21/2011
A logo of the city of gbrar

Mutual funds (MFs) must get 90% of their income from stocks, bonds and traditional securities. To bypass this, MFs that invest in derivatives and commodities set up shell corps in the Caymans to do it. They then sell shares in the offshore subsidiary shells to the mutual funds. This way the funds technically invest in…

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