Credit default swaps, your time has come - to be regulated

In what has become an observation for the ages, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) Warren Buffett referred to derivatives as "financial weapons of mass destruction."

More recently, George Soros argued that one type of derivative, credit default swaps, should be outlawed.

Is Soros' prescription too harsh? Some investors and Wall Street professionals might view it as such, but credit default swaps -- a derivative that's really a form of credit default insurance -- have done little in the past decade to inspire confidence.