Reply #4: 12.3 trillion is about 85% of our GDP

[struggle4progress]

It was a real "go-for-broke" move

The only guess I can make is that the unregulated derivatives products pushed by the big US financial players were such bad investments, and so ubiquitous, that they threatened the entire international monetary system -- and other countries behind the scenes began screaming at the US that they weren't going to play patsy for US bankers