What the Heck is Derivatives"?

Does anyone actually know what this word means? What's so secretive about it? Find out how our economy crash. The market has absolutely no protection at all.
Watch this video.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view/ 

or buy the DVD at:

http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=3812871&clickid=main_featured_txt