Our best thinking.

Right now, JPMorgan Chase has more than 67 trillion dollars in exposure to derivatives but it only has 2.5 trillion dollars in assets.

Right now, Citibank has nearly 60 trillion dollars in exposure to derivatives but it only has 1.9 trillion dollars in assets.

Right now, Goldman Sachs has more than 54 trillion dollars in exposure to derivatives but it has less than a trillion dollars in assets.

Right now, Bank of America has more than 54 trillion dollars in exposure to derivatives but it only has 2.2 trillion dollars in assets.

Right now, Morgan Stanley has more than 44 trillion dollars in exposure to derivatives but it has less than a trillion dollars in assets.

Most people have absolutely no idea how incredibly vulnerable our financial system really is.

Alcoholics at AA meetings will occasionally recount how they were low-bottom drunks and lost job, family, and self respect. Then they'll add, "And my best thinking got me there."

Some very smart people have gotten us to this point, which I've hitherto variously described as one characterized by utter delusional thinking or lies stretching out to the horizon on all points of the compass.

Earnestly discussing the abrogation of the Constitution, the metastatic growth of the federal government, or the perils of multiculturalism seems not to ignite the awakening of a great many citizens. A collapse of the major banks following the collapse of the derivative scam will be more instructive.

Notes
^[1]  "Most People Cannot Even Imagine That An Economic Collapse Is Coming." By Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse, 11/2/14.