Credit Default Swaps or Cold Barker's Eggs

Kate Jennings, Australian ex-pat and author of Moral Hazard and the latest Quarterly Essay, appeared on ABC Radio's Counterpoint show last week to give some insight into the GFC -- Global Financial Crises -- and those WMD also known as financial derivatives. Obviously with her ear to the ground still in Wall Street circles Jennings reported that CDS -- credit default swaps -- are also known, colloquially, as cold dog shit.