View this link:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/12/banks200812?currentPage=all

This Niall Ferguson article published in the December 2008 issue of Vanity Fair is worth reading for anyone interested in learning a little bit more about economic history and the current financial crisis, like finding out what a derivative is and how it relates to the real estate market.

The one thing I found peculiar was that Ferguson, apparently a leading proponent of counterfactual history, never mentions the word “capitalism” throughout the entire article, despite the fact that it tracks the historic development and evolution of crises from some “obscure” point in the Middle Ages to the present. He then chooses to euphemistically refer to late (virtual/financial) capitalism as “Planet Finance,” some far, far away, imaginary place that may or may not exist.

My hermeneutical advice for our readers is to read the article and whenever he uses the stupid, meaningless phrase “Planet Finance,” substitute in “capitalism.”

(Via 3QD.)