As the economic crisis continues to unfold, recently a sense of uncertainty has begun to pervade the market. Even dyed-in-the-wool risk takers admit that they don’t know what to think anymore. Inflation, deflation, recession or depression – there are so many vagaries that it appears to be anyone’s guess what will happen next.

Volumes of debt underwriting — he process by which investment bankers raise investment capital from investors — have fallen by more than $1.3 trillion in the US since the credit crisis kicked off last July.

According to an Oppenheimer research note picked up by Dow Jones MarketWatch: “As more than 80% of corporate funding came from the capital markets during 2007, we can’t help but believe that such a massive extraction of liquidity from the market will have a profound impact on the U.S. economy.

Of all the really bad ideas that have infested the finance business in the last 30 years, the most dangerous is probably the credit default swap (CDS).