296 trillion in debt controlled almost exclusively by five firms.

Per CFO.com today comes this sobering statistic:

Members of Congress probing threats to the global financial system —
especially the threat of concentration of risk — will have a lot to ponder
in
newly mandated disclosures highlighted by a Fitch Ratings report issued
this
week. While derivatives use among U.S. companies is widespread, an
"overwhelming
majority of the exposure is concentrated among financial
institutions,"
according to the rating agency's review of first-quarter
financials.
Concentrated, in fact, among a mere handful of
financial-services giants. About 80% of the derivative assets and
liabilities
carried on the balance sheets of 100 companies reviewed by Fitch
were held by
five banks: JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs,
Citigroup, and
Morgan Stanley. Those five banks also account for more than
96% of the
companies' exposure to credit derivatives.

...For the repot, the rating agency reviewed first-quarter 2009 filings of
the companies, which come from a range of industries and represent almost $6.4
trillion in aggregate outstanding debt. The companies also recorded a
total notional amount of derivative positions of more than $296 trillion.

How does a small group of companies come to issue debt at nearly five times the GDP of the entire world? If anything this should be the final nail in the coffin to the view that markets are self-regulating creatures which will stop before melting down. With five companies being given such power, how can anyone talk about a free market when banks and investment houses are issuing more debt than the world's government?