The Heart of the Beast: The CME Group and the Failure of Financial Self-Regulation

This is a story about the first, albeit selective, potential default in the US by a major clearing exchange in the postwar period. And the cause of it remains a mystery, possibly by intent.

In the essay excerpted below, analyst Ted Butler brings out a key aspect of the failure of MF Global that has received far too little attention.

The self funding by the players of their industry's