"There is more to come....or do you really think the trillions going on is only because the sub primes ?"
No I think its because of panic and fear of the unknown. Michael West's favourite trick is to use lots of large numbers and leave the reader thinking the worst case scenario is a likely one.
E.G.
" As of March, the bank had some $23.4 billion in ``long'' CDS positions and $22.3 billion in ``short'' CDS positions."
would you assume the bank had 23.4 + 22.3 = $45.7 billion in exposure to CDS? Just as likely they had $23.4 - $22.3 = $1.4 billion maximum exposure (ie long - short). Even more likely its a far more complicated situation with a whole lot of very different exposures to different counter-parties that can't be neatly summarized in a one page article. So just use the largest scariest numbers you can find and hint that they are trying to hide something.
The big four have all declared their maximum possible exposure to Lehman's collapse is around $100 million or less.
