Angela Merkel thinks speculators are the adversary, and she plans to win. Banning naked short sales is just the first move in the struggle.

The SEC suit against Goldman Sachs makes it clear that credit default swaps made the Great Crash worse than it should have been. Now it’s time to impose serious regulation on these time bombs, regardless of what it does to JPMorgan Chase’s ability to coin money.

If you thought “We never saw it coming” sounds like a bit of song and dance, well, as Jimmy Durante would say, You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Brooksley Born wants to know the effect of credit default swaps on the housing bubble and the Great Crash. Citibank representatives don’t think there was an effect. Yves Smith disagrees.

Senator Corker knows that good financial regulation isn’t a partisan issue. Let’s hope he and Senator Dodd were paying attention to the good idea of President Obama to regulate swaps by reducing the concentration of the swaps “market”.

At this late date, no one knows whether insider trading is permitted in credit default swaps.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association says credit default swaps are innocuous. Consider the source.