In the US, the main design defects are in bankruptcy law, which exempts derivatives and repos from most regular bankruptcy constraints. For example, investors holding derivatives and repo contracts with a weakened financial institution can grab the firm’s assets ahead of – and at the expense of – its regular creditors, possibly sealing its fate, when, with a little extra time, the firm might have survived.
在美国，主要的设计缺陷在于破产法，该法律将金融衍生品和repo都排除在了一般破产约束条件之外。比如说，如果投资者持有与一个被削弱的金融机构签订的衍生品或者再购协议合约，那么他就能抢在该机构的一般债权人之前——或者牺牲债权人利益的情况下——夺取机构资产，甚至很可能因此左右该机构的命运：或许只要再争取多一点时间，那家机构就能生存下来。但在金融危机中，美国国际集团，贝尔斯登和其他企业都因此遭遇了不幸。