Three requests, some appreciation and a hope

Three simple requests, right off the bat;

1) Could we now make Hedge Funds of any sort illegal as soon as the rest of this financial crisis is cleaned up? They are huge, unregulated and dangerous to the US and world economies.

Hedge Funds, defined, from Wikipedia:

A hedge fund is a private investment fund open to a limited range of investors which is permitted by regulators to undertake a wider range of activities than other investment funds and which pays a performance fee to its investment manager. Although each fund will have its own strategy which determines the type of investments and the methods of investment it undertakes, hedge funds as a class invest in a broad range of investments, from shares, debt and commodities to works of art.

As the name implies, hedge funds often seek to offset potential losses in the principal markets they invest in by hedging their investments using a variety of methods, most notably short selling. However, the term "hedge fund" has come to be applied to many funds that do not actually hedge their investments, and in particular to funds using short selling and other "hedging" methods to increase rather than reduce risk, with the expectation of increasing return.

Hedge funds are typically open only to a limited range of professional or wealthy investors. This provides them with an exemption in many jurisdictions from regulations governing short selling, derivative contracts, leverage, fee structures and the liquidity of investments in the fund. A hedge fund will nevertheless voluntarily limit the scope of its activities via its contractual arrangements with its investors, in order to give the investors some certainty over what they are investing into.

The assets under management of a hedge fund can run into many billions of dollars, and this will usually be multiplied by leverage, meaning that their influence over markets is substantial. Hedge funds dominate certain specialty markets such as trading within derivatives with high-yield ratings and distressed debt.

(see the complete definition here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_funds)

Another word for Hedge Funds would be "highly profitable deck of cards for the ultra-wealthy", frankly.

2) Next could we make "credit swaps" illegal now and go back to having only regulated, financed insurance coverage, the way things ought to be?

Credit swaps are what companies used instead of using out and out insurance because--guess what?--insurance is regulated. These "credit swaps" were ridiculously profitable because they were grossly underfunded. So when times are good, the money rolled in fast and loose. When times are bad--now, of course--everyone's credit swaps collapse, causing everyone else's credit swaps to collapse, hence the global problem. One more facet of insanity to be dealt with, as financial ministers 'round the world try to fix the problems.

3) Could we regulate the trade of energy and oil markets again so there aren't people and organizations speculating--gambling, really--on the rise of these commodities?

Speculation on these markets virtually guarantees they'll go up and the entire world suffers--the poor, middle class, businesses, hell, even the wealthy pay what they ahouldn't have to (not that I'm suddenly an advocate for the wealthy, mind you, let me be clear).

We regulated them for 78 years, until 2000, thanks to the Enron clowns. Going back to it is the only sane thing to do, for all concerned--except greedhead speculators.

Next, I'd like to give a very public (but likely little-noticed) "thank you" to any and every government and private official, anywhere, who is trying to help avoid a collapse of any and every financial market, anywhere in the world.

There are a great deal of people working very hard right now--and they have been for some time and will continue to be, into the foreseeable future--and I, for one, am extremely grateful.

I wish it weren't necessary, of course.

These people wouldn't have to be working so feverishly now, if there had been far more regulatory oversight all along, the last decade. The world would be much more sane and safe now.

The only drawback is that there would be one small group of people--a small group of very wealthy investors--who would have less millions in dollars now. They'd still be millionaires or billionaires but they wouldn't have quite so much, overall.

Finally, hope that, for all of us, everywhere on the planet, that all these people are successful in their work, on all our behalf, on all these economies.

Heaven help us if they're not.