For a good look at "investing" in dirivatives, the Chi-coms need to look at Anaheim, which was convinced by brokers (of course) to invest all their money in these instruments. Anaheim never understood them any more than the brokers did, and promptly lost their asses and the city went bankrupt. No one, not ever the brokers, understand these smoke and mirrors "investments" and they are structured so that the ony ones who benefit form them are the brokers and the brolerage firms they work for. You are far better off pulling the handle on a slot machine in Vegas than you are thinking you are "investing" in this garbage. It's every bit the same gamble, but in Vetgas you hav nomre fun doing it.

That was Orange County in 1994, and the county treasurer had unwisely invested a large portion of the county's $7.5 billion investment pool in leveraged interest-based securities. Those securities were equivalent to options (bets) and the risk was not offset (not covered or spread). It's really not that difficult to understand. If you bet your own money, you might go broke. If you bet other people's money as well, they can get pretty cranky about it. Robert Citron lost a lot of peoples' money.

Try using spell-check.