>Refco is a "trading firm" that deals with futures, derivatives and
>commodities - mostly areas that were allowed to emerge since the
>rise of neo-liberalism, with the precise intent of bypassing
>regulations and limiting taxation.
That's an exaggeration. Commodities have been around forever, so I'm guessing you mean commodity futures. And futures are a kind of derivative, so you're talking about derivatives in general. Certainly derivatives have exploded in recent decades, but the instruments themselves have been around for centuries. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange was founded in 1898; the Chicago Board of Trade in 1848. Bypassing regulations and limiting taxation are partial explanations for that growth, of course, but that's not the whole story (hi Carrol!). They're also used to hedge risk and to foster speculation - i.e., for largely financial purposes, not legal ones.
Doug