Yesterday I was pondering the buried part of the financial industry - the landscape of debt which lies unseen. Charts and graphs of economists & market men have all tried to portray a picture of what is happening to the world, with little consensus and varying models. It is the unseen that cannot be charted and that is the unknown. Way back in October Missmarketcrash read somewhere about the (debt) value of credit default swaps and various other things hovering around 72 trillion dollars. Missmarketcrash is now kicking herself for not bookmarking said article, which was from a reputable source. 72 trillion is of course a variable number based on success or failure of instruments, and, some of that has been reduced slowly but surely by institutions in various ways. I would not venture to even guess where that number lies now, but, it must be still rather large on the negative side as one can see from the scramblings of world politics and economies.
Google Earth has saved my metaphorical soul this morning by releasing Google Oceans. Yes. One can dive into the great vast bit of the globe that used to be represented by a rather nice plain shade of blue and discover what lies underneath. It is most amazing to have our map of the world expanded so greatly and I am an instant fan. Look
here for a glimpse into the great unknown.
Come on Google. The next application clearly ought to be Google Global Markets - we would all love a glimpse below the murky surfaces...
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