[...]
4. DERIVATIVE: PHYSICISTS EXONERATED IN ORANGE COUNTY BANKRUPTCY!
Who was to blame for the financial collapse of one of the richest
counties in the nation? Physicists, according to "60 Minutes" on
CBS back in March (WN 10 Mar 95); Wall Street hired physicists to
concoct complex investments called derivatives "that no one can
understand." Befuddled by these fiendishly clever physicists, the
Orange County Treasurer, Robert Citron, lost $1.4B. According to
Grand Jury testimony released this week, however, Citron relied
on the advice of a local psychic and a mail-order astrologer for
financial guidance. To be fair, the astrologer predicted December
1994 would be a bad month. The county declared bankruptcy Dec 6.
[...]
THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions are the author's
and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.)