Quants vs Congress

Big hearings in Congress today about how evil derivatives and the quants 
who build them are.  They are a threat to government as we know it.  Don't 
tell anyone but the "intermediation of political risk" was one of the 
greatest invention of the 1980s.  Combine same with strong crypto and you 
almost have to feel sorry for the public employees in our midst.  Watch 
out for a little downsizing.  

To show that I'm a charitable guy, I have some free advice to anyone 
reading this who is involved in "taking the King's shilling":  I 
understand that there is a bright future in computer maintenance 
technology.  A word to the wise.... 

DCF

"Buddy can you spare an EXPTIME-complete encryption system?"
g' 5O--- WinQwk 2.0b#1165g' 5O

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> Big hearings in Congress today about how evil derivatives and the quants 
> who build them are.  They are a threat to government as we know it.  Don't 
> tell anyone but the "intermediation of political risk" was one of the 
> greatest invention of the 1980s.  Combine same with strong crypto and you 
> almost have to feel sorry for the public employees in our midst.  Watch 
> out for a little downsizing.  

Aw c'mon Duncan.  Derivative of what?  What's a quant?  Where was the
term ``intermediation of political risk'' used?

I love your postings when I can make sense of them.  This one is so well
encrypted I can't.

> To show that I'm a charitable guy, I have some free advice to anyone 
> reading this who is involved in "taking the King's shilling":

Do you really think that such people deserve charity?

	John E. Kreznar		| Relations among people to be by
	jkreznar@ininx.com	| mutual consent, or not at all.

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John E. Kreznar says:
> > Big hearings in Congress today about how evil derivatives and the quants 
> > who build them are.  They are a threat to government as we know it.  Don't 
> > tell anyone but the "intermediation of political risk" was one of the 
> > greatest invention of the 1980s.  Combine same with strong crypto and you 
> > almost have to feel sorry for the public employees in our midst.  Watch 
> > out for a little downsizing.  
> 
> Aw c'mon Duncan.  Derivative of what?

Derivative securites. Usually "derived" from some base securities,
commodities, or other derivatives. Options, futures, swaps, and other
synthetic trading instruments of varying degrees of liquidity and
fungibility are all derivative instruments.

> What's a quant?

Someone who does valuation of fixed income or derivative securities
based on mathematical models. Its a bit of a fuzzy term.

> Where was the term ``intermediation of political risk'' used?

Well, presumably hedging, futures and insurance markets can be used to
offset political risks.

> I love your postings when I can make sense of them.  This one is so well
> encrypted I can't.

Everyone should know a bit about the securities markets -- an educated
individual owes it to themselves to understand them.

Perry

John Krexnar writes:

(Duncan Frissell's section elided)

> Aw c'mon Duncan.  Derivative of what?  What's a quant?  Where was the
> term ``intermediation of political risk'' used?
> 
> I love your postings when I can make sense of them.  This one is so well
> encrypted I can't.

"Derivatives" mean secondary financial instruments, based on ("derived
from") things like stocks, bonds, and real estate. Things like futures
markets, "baskets" of other instruments, etc. These started, it may be
argued, in the trading pits of Chicago, but have now spread around the
world. I think I recall reading (in "Time"'s cover story last week on
derivatives and quants, ironically enough--the Wall Street nerd with
the "messy room" has replaced the hacker as the Number One Threat to
Civilization) that $ 4 Trillion in derivatives trades _daily_.

"Quants," closely related to "rocket scientists," are those who use
math and statistics for investment purposes. Short for "quantitative."

I urge all Cypherpunks who can afford to do so to subscribe to "The
Economist." It's filled with good, incisive articles, including the
best treatments of breaking science and technology stories in any
general magazine. Shoot your t.v., maybe, but don't let your
subsription lapse. Available also on newstands, whence information on
subscribing may be found (read the mag long enough, and you too will
speak in terms of "whence").

--Tim May


-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."