这类全收益交换合约竟然连保证金都可以不需要,除此之外,其它种类的衍生性金融商品也严重危害到主管机关抑制银行、保险公司及其它金融单位采取高杠杆及风险控管的强力铁腕,同时,即便是经验老道的投资者及分析师在看到这类布满衍生性金融商品交易公司的财务状况时,也束手无策,记得当查理跟我自己在看完几家大型银行有关衍生性金融商品交易冗长的财务报表附注时,我们唯一可以确定的是我们根本就不晓得这些金融机构到底承担了多少的风险。
The derivatives genie is now well out of the bottle, and these instruments will almost certainly multiply in variety and number until some event makes their toxicity clear. Knowledge of how dangerous they are has already permeated the electricity and gas businesses, in which the eruption of major troubles caused the use of derivatives to diminish dramatically. Elsewhere, however, the derivatives business continues to expand unchecked. Central banks and governments have so far found no effective way to control, or even monitor, the risks posed by these contracts.
衍生性金融商品交易鬼怪现在已从仙朵拉瓶子中窜出,而这类交易还会继续以各种不同形式自我复制,直至这个祸害所造成的危害为众人所知时为止,它们的危险程度从近年来弥漫在电力能源产业的几件个案可以略窥一二,在事件发生之后,衍生性金融商品交易急速减少,然而在其它产业,衍生性金融商品交易却照样毫无节制的急速扩张中,中央银行及美国政府到目前为止依然找不到有效克制的办法,甚至连监控这些合约所构成风险的机制都没有。
Charlie and I believe Berkshire should be a fortress of financial strength –for the sake of our owners, creditors, policyholders and employees. We try to be alert to any sort of megacatastrophe risk, and that posture may make us unduly apprehensive about the burgeoning quantities of long-term derivatives contracts and the massive amount of uncollateralized receivables that are growing alongside. In our view, however, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.