June 19, 2025· 48 min

Gillian Tett on Complex Derivatives and the Fifth Stage of Capitalism

Gillian Tett

Orality

Model

87%

Highly oral (epic poetry, sermons, hip-hop)

Speaker Breakdown

HostJoe Weisenthal(1,027 words)

M:94%

HostTracy Alloway(1,971 words)

M:29%

GuestGillian Tett(5,104 words)

M:27%

Oral Indicators

Agonistic42%

very, basically, literally

Engagement55%

you, our, your

Memory Aids100%

listen, so, like

Repetition100%

like (86x), they (62x), about (54x)

Parallelism100%

So have you heard the story ab..., So switch to Verizon Business,..., And I'm Joe Weisenthal....

Sound Patterns25%

23 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"

Formulaic Phrases6%

you know what, i mean, to be honest

Literate Indicators

Hedging7%

could, maybe, quite

Passive Voice11%

was based, was based, are often

Abstract Nouns22%

investment, prescription, medication

Subordination8%

because, while, until

Sentence Length47%

Avg: 16.9 words/sentence

Word Complexity50%

investment, analyze, anticipate

Academic Markers3%

according to

Impersonal Style45%

514 personal pronouns found

Descriptive Style100%

automatically, family, apply

Description

After the GFC, there was a lot of angst over the fact that so much effort and brainpower went into designing complex derivatives, and other financial instruments. Not only was this seen as wasteful, the complexity was deemed to be the heart of the crisis, and therefore bad. But all these years later, looking back, how bad is financial complexity really? What do things look like from the perspective of 2025. On this episode we're joined by Gillian Tett, a columnist at the Financial Times, and also the author of several books including Fool's Gold: The Inside Story of J.P. Morgan and How Wall St. Greed Corrupted Its Bold Dream and Created a Financial Catastrophe. We talked about her reporting on the evolution of financial derivatives, their legacy, what she is concerned about now, and why she sees the world entering into a new, post-neoliberal, fifth stage of capitalism. Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox — now delivered every weekday — plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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