Umm, for one thing, the description of the instruments as "derivatives" is not due to Kedrosky, but to Avi Levy, the author of the Bloomberg article he was quoting. You did see that he was quoting another article, didn't you?
Also, it's not a "scare word" in this context at all. It's a fairly neutral term, and an accurate enough description of what these investment firms are doing (even if they chose to use other words to market these instruments).
Also, it's not a "scare word" in this context at all. It's a fairly neutral term, and an accurate enough description of what these investment firms are doing (even if they chose to use other words to market these instruments).