WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How much money is there in the world? 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:03.240 Hey everyone, it's me Josh and for this week's s 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:05.640 Y s K Select, I chose how Much Money Is 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:09.479 in the World? First aired in September two thousand thirteen. 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:13.119 And this is one of those topics that you kind 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:15.320 of wonder about ever since you're a little kid. I 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.680 know I did, and delightfully I found that as an 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.279 adult the answer was even more interesting than I had 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:25.560 imagined as a youngster. Youngster, that's what adults called kids, 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:28.160 right Well, anyway, this is one of my all time 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:37.239 favorite episodes. I hope you enjoy it as well. Welcome 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:46.840 to Stuff You Should Know from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.360 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and I'm 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.760 with Charles W. Chuck Bryan. He's right here with me. 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:56.720 So it's stuff you should know. It's also really stuff 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:00.800 you should know because Jerry's here too. Oh the chairs 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.400 now here. It's fake stuff you should know. It's less 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.720 than vintage stuff you should know, got you. I mean, 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:12.360 it's not bad, it's not great. I'm sure Matt and 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:18.880 everyone appreciate that. Dud. I listen to this cramp Yeah, uh, Chuck, Yes, 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.639 how much money do you have on you right now? Cash, 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.240 zero dollars and zero cents. Well, that's stupid, because you 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.240 should have thirty eight in cash on you. I never 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:33.600 have cash. Well, you should almost never have cash. You 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:36.440 should have thirty eight hundred dollars in cash on you 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:39.959 right now. So should I, so should Jerry. Um, but 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:47.400 we don't. We don't. It's sad. I'd love in my pocket. Okay, Well, 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.720 let's let's explain why I just said that. Huh was 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:54.520 I supposed to? That's all right, I'll do it. Um, 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:56.520 I can do it. That's how much if you divide 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:59.120 up all the money between all the Americans, that's how 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:05.160 much we should all have. Bam, bam. So we're trying 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.840 to answer a question here, how much money is there 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:12.240 in the world? Um, And we'll get to that. There's 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:14.760 a there's actually a rough estimate out there that may 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.880 be right. But instead, first let's talk about how much 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.080 American money there is in the world. And not just 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:27.040 because we're American, but because it is the standard currency worldwide. 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:31.240 It's the closest thing to the universal currency that we have, um, 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:35.440 the dollar, the green back. Yeah. But um, that's not, 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:40.320 as I guess, um widespread as it once was. A 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:44.440 lot of people have abandoned the dollar UM and now 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:48.560 use a basket of currencies to value their currency against 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:53.720 very rebellious um. But still the dollar is generally what's 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.799 used to say, for oil speculation. And imagine the dollars 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.639 in that basket too though, right, maybe maybe not, It 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:04.280 depend on how much they hate America, gotcha? So um. 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.560 What you were talking about, though, was all the money 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.840 divided up by all the Americans coming up to thirty dollars. 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.880 That's called the M zero money supply. Of course, you 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.600 know how I read that m O the more money Supply. 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.079 I was like, what, and then I read I read 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:23.760 it again. I said, it can't be called the MO 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:26.320 money supply, and then I realized that was a zero 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.800 and not an Oh it it looks very much like 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.160 the MO money Supply. I wrote this article. I realized it, 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.880 and I never saw it like that until you just 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.200 said that. Really, Yeah, I like the MO money supply 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:40.360 better than the m OH. It's good, but it is 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:42.320 m O for a reason. There's also the M one, 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:44.400 M two, and there wasn't M three, which we'll get 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:46.400 to right. And the people who came up with this 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:49.160 was the federal Reserve Bank, the United States Central Bank, 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.560 the FED, right, and they like to track money. That's 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.120 one of the things they do to amuse themselves. Count yeah, 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:00.120 count money, um, and go to sleep on pile of 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:05.200 gold ingots. But the FED came up with this M 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.760 I'm sorry, this more Money Supply, also known as the 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:12.160 M zero supply, and that is all of the bills 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.400 and coins, all of the actual hard currency that exists 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:21.039 in the world anywhere in US dollars. And as of 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:25.560 July two thirteen. Hey, that's recent. Yeah, that came to 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.320 always should say Catherine Whitbourne from The Coolest Stuff on 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.440 the Planet. She updated this. So the fact that this 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.800 is as up today as it is is thanks to her. UM. 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.440 But the the M so, the more Money Supply as 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.480 of July two thirteen is one point to trillion dollars. 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.120 That's all the cash and all the coins all over 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:48.919 the world of American dollars, the real dollars that you 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:53.440 can collect and put together you can light your cigars with, yeah, 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:58.200 or you can throw into a fountain. Yeah. At one 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.599 point to trillion US dollars. So that's how much money 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.760 was in the world. But and and we said also 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:09.279 that's thirty eight hundred for every American man, woman, and child. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.200 All three hundred and sixteen million, six hundred and sixty 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.960 eight thousand, five hundred and sixty seven Americans that were 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.679 alive in July of two thousand thirteen, each one should 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.000 have had thirty eight hundred bucks in their pocket. Because 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.080 we're not talking checking accounts, we're talking the actual currency 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.440 that people are walking around with. Since I don't have 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:29.440 thirty eight hundred dollars in my pocket, and I didn't 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:34.080 in July, you don't, Jerry, Nope, Jerry's got more. Where 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:37.960 is this stuff? That's a good question. I wonder how 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.039 that clock ticks, by the way, the population clock. I'd 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:44.160 like to see a real time like three people died, 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.920 four people born, people died, eight people born, said its wins. 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.560 I wonder if it ever does go backwards for a second. 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:53.240 It's got too because people are dying, but more people 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.760 are being born than people are dying. Yeah, it depends 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.760 on the country you're talking about. Yeah, that's true. Um, 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:00.520 I always drive by the one in Atlanta, you know, 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:04.000 on the population clock that's been there forever. When I 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:05.960 was a kid, I remember when the top two million 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.560 it was like whoa wow, and now it's whatever three 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:13.360 points something is it? Yeah? I mean that's metro Atlanta, right, 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:17.839 it's not city of Atlanta. Um, alright, so back to it. Uh, 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:20.320 where were we hard to track the more money? No, 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.120 we were talking about where the thirty eight hundred bucks 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:26.960 that should be in our pockets is? Oh well, um, 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:29.599 about a half to two thirds of that is overseas. 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:34.120 It's an overseas pockets, that's right, or overseas bank accounts 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:37.280 or no, no, we're not talking bank accountants. Wait, that's 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:39.960 just the money, that's right. Yeah. So that means that 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.880 there are people walking around overseas with cash on them 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:46.520 American dollar American dollars, which makes a lot of sense. 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.760 And so when you start to divide the amount of money, 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.200 at one point two trillion buy a lot more than 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.640 three hundred and sixteen million people. That explains why I 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.160 have a single dollar bill on my person right now, 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:03.240 why I have nothing? All right? And Jerry nothing nothing man, 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:07.120 we're sad sex Okay, So that's just the MO money supply. Yeah, 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:10.600 the M zero, the M one is all of the 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:14.800 MO money plus checking account money and other kinds of 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:19.520 just accounts that you can you know, track and travelers checks. Yeah, 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.800 very very liquid types of accounts. Yes, that's the M one, 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.200 Yeah supply that And it's funny that you were having 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.080 trouble wrapping your head around the fact that we were 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:31.800 talking about cash outside of banks for the M zero supply. 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.840 I had the same problem too, like it's hard to 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:39.160 think of money outside of banks in this day and age, 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:42.320 you could rarely have cash on hand use like debit 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:44.840 cards and credit cards and all that kind of stuff. 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:50.080 Yeah's American Express for everything. That's funny that on this 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:52.320 audio podcast you just held it up to your face 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.920 when you said that. Um, so that's the M one. 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:59.640 In June of of this year, the M one supply 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.920 was about two point five trillion, So the momentey supply 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.679 was one point two. The M one was two point five. 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:10.040 That's all the accounts and checking accounts, travelers checks. Then 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:13.280 there's the M two, which is the M one supply 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:19.400 plus uh money market fund, money savings accounts, and CDs 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.920 under a hundred grand, which they call small c ds 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.440 right from that's a pretty good CD. Well, c D 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.080 over a hundred grands called a jumbo. Yeah. I was 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.600 looking up jumbo right there used to be something like 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:34.400 four and a quarter. Some of them would be like 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.640 for like a ten year. Yeah, so you get like 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:41.360 twenty two grand back over now I'm sorry, five years. 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.600 So you go give a bank a hundred grand, say 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:46.760 keep this for five years paying me back, and they 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.559 would give you twenty two interests. So you get a 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.480 hundred and twenty two cran This not very long ago, 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.200 a couple of years ago before the crash. You want 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.440 to know what it's at right now, for a hundred 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:03.960 thousand dollar three year I believe c D a jumbo 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.600 c D, you get like one point four percent. It's 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:08.920 only worth your time to give a bank a hundred 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.560 thousand dollars to keep for three years. They'll give you 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:18.080 fourteen hundred dollars. Asinine go to the dog track with 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:26.640 a hundred thousand dollars and you leave a heroin addict crying. Um. Alright, 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.680 So the M to supply, which like I said, was 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.120 it was the M one supply plus money market fund 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.600 saving counts and those smaller CDs ten point five trillion. 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:40.360 That's virtually all of the American money in the world 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:43.840 pretty much. Because they got rid of M three basically 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.960 in two thousand six, because they said it really doesn't 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:50.080 tell us much to know what the larger jumbo CDs 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:52.160 are adding to this pile. It doesn't change things that much, 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:56.320 I guess. I imagine there's just not that many exactly. 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:00.760 So about ten point five trillion US dollars in accounts 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:06.400 and in cash um in holdings in the world in 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.960 about July June July of two. That's a lot of dough. 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:13.440 That's a lot of mula, all right, And if you 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.360 want to, yeah, it even says in't here that's it did. 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:17.920 And that's when I looked up. It's like who wrote this? 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.720 It was like, oops, I thought this was well done. 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:23.720 Well and I learned how to spell mulah. I didn't know. 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.240 Don't don't Patre, Now I'm serious. I literally thought, oh, 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.360 that's how you spell mula. How do you think you 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.360 spelled it? I don't know. M u l a no. 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:35.280 I just never thought of I've never seen it spelled 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.800 out m O O l a. H Uh. That's a 0:10:38.920 --> 0:11:05.240 p standard exactly. So, um this I think we've kind 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:09.360 of pointed out it's tough to track money like this. Well, yeah, 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:10.959 it's not the easiest thing. They do a pretty good 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.480 job of it that the FED does specifically because it's 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:16.080 just what they do and they love doing that. Yeah, 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:17.920 but it's you know, it's an estimate still, like no 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:19.560 one knows how much cash I have in my house, 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:21.640 no one asked me, no, But they know how much 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:23.600 was printed. They keep track of that kind of stuff, 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.480 how much is destroyed, how much in circulation um. And 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:29.640 you know there's bank reportings. They know how much a 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.160 bank has at the FED UM, so they have a 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.240 It's it's pretty close estimate from what I understand. The 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.320 thing is, not every country has a FED like the 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:45.360 FED in the US, and that makes it way harder 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:48.160 to say how much money is in the entire world, 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.400 not just US dollars, but all the money in the 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:54.800 entire world, and more difficult to control your economy. It is, 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:56.400 if you if you don't know how much money you have, 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.880 it's very difficult to sway your economy one way or 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:04.320 the right exactly. So UM Zimbabwe is a really good example, 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.000 man of why it's so hard to track a lot 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:10.400 of money, and also what happens when you don't track 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.480 your money, yeah, or what happens when you decide in 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:17.120 order to fix economic woes, let's just start printing more money, 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:21.679 because that's um. If you know nothing about finance and economics, 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.600 a common thing you might think is, well, they could 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:28.600 probably just infuse some some cash flow by printing money occasionally, 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:32.840 and they do occasionally. But in Zimbabwe they did it 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.840 to such an extent with a zim dollar, which I 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:37.800 didn't even believe that was right. It's actually called a 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.880 zim dollar. Sounds like something from a movie. Um, not 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:46.600 a good one exactly. Uh. They printed so much money 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.520 that they encountered hyper inflation like the world has never 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:54.680 seen before. Yeah, so it's ridiculous numbers. Yes, this hyper 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.160 inflation in two thousand and six, it was. It was 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.360 really bad and two thousand Zimbabwe started to or an 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:05.240 inflationary spiral. Um. In two thousand and six, it was 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:09.800 so bad that a sheet, not a roll, a sheet 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:16.400 of toilet paper cost four hundred and seventeen zim dollars. Okay, yeah, 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.079 a roll of toilet paper cost a hundred and forty 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:24.040 five thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars. Well that's the thing. 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:27.320 Everybody would have gone broke. But it wasn't that the 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:30.160 toilet paper was very expensive. It was that the Zim 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:34.520 dollars had very little purchasing power, and that was because dollars, 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:38.760 just like any other commodity, are subject to the influences 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:40.640 of supply and demand, and when there's a lot of 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:44.320 them on the market, their value decreases. That's how the 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.120 US government has managed to stay afloat so many times 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:51.000 they release a bunch of money. They cause inflation so 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.400 that the debts that they owe are worth less, so 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.080 when they pay them off, it hurts the government less. 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.920 It's a really horrible thing to do to your investors, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.920 but it's it's done. But that's the point. When you 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:07.280 have a lot of dollars out there, you have less 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.520 purchasing power per dollar. And that's what was going on 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.720 in Zimbabwe, and things got really out of hand because 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.959 they decided to fight this by printing more dollars. Yeah, 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:19.840 they really got out of hand. That Some of these 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.960 stats in here are just staggering. Um, you said that 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:27.520 every what you didn't say you report that. Um, it 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.360 was estimated that it was equivalent to prices doubling in 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.160 stores every one point three days. Yeah, the most I 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.760 saw was every twenty four point seven hours prices. Essentially, 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:41.520 we're being doubled by the way of the dollar losing value. Right, 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:44.040 Like the kind of inflation that we're looking at right 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:46.440 here in America right now is like in the single 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:50.600 digit percentiles, and it's being kept low by the Fed 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:56.120 on purpose. But we're talking like doubling increase. Like the 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.200 toilet papers this much the next day is twice as much. 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:00.920 The next day it's three times that. And that's just 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:05.280 not gonna affect economy. That's gonna like, I mean, think 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.280 about it. Its toilet paper costs that much money. People 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.119 are gonna stop using toilet paper. That leads to poor sanitation, 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.320 that leads to you know, it's just a domino effect. Well, 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:16.560 there was a joke that the toilet paper was so 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:19.920 expensive of the dollar, the zim zim dollar bought such 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.200 a little toilet paper that it was actually more useful 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.720 as toilet paper than to buy toilet paper with. Ye 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:28.800 that's not funny, but well yeah, if you're in Zimbabwe, 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:34.640 is not. But the annual inflation was um estimated. Like 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:38.680 this was watching Zimbabwe. If you were a currency or 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:42.440 monetary policy economists, it was like a dream come true. 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.560 Last time something happened this bad. It was Hungary in 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:48.800 n I think we talked about that once. Yeah, um, 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:51.240 I think it was in the super Stuff Guide to 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:57.280 Economics or Spoken Word album. Um. But the the inflation 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:03.360 in Zimbabwe was estimated at five hundred and sixteen quintillion percent. 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.200 That's by the end of two thousand and eight. Okay, 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:09.160 that's not even the highest that I've seen. Now, the 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:14.240 highest I saw is eighty nine point seven sex tillion percent, 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:19.360 which is a eighty nine point seven billion trillion percent 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.680 or eighty nine point seven ten to the twenty one 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.040 power percent. That was their annual rate of inflation, and 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.680 that was probably early two thousand nine. Yeah, yeah, because 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:33.120 in January two thousand nine they basically said you can 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:37.560 start using foreign currency again, which helps stabilizings a tiny 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:42.520 the tiniest bit, but it it didn't obviously work well. 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:47.200 It ended inflation abruptly because they abandoned these dollars. The 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:51.000 currency lost value so much that everybody stopped using it 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:54.280 and they went to the South African rand and the 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:57.480 US dollar. That took four months from January to April 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.880 for basically to completely abandon their money, right, So four 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.800 months in the country's money is literally useless, right, and 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:06.960 when they did, when they did abandon it was actually 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:09.960 a pretty good move. Like you couldn't carry the economy 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.560 with this money any longer because it was so value 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.119 that they're in bad shape no matter what. But at 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:17.080 least they that was a good move, right. And Um, 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.000 the reason it was a good move because it stopped 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:21.480 inflation because there weren't that many dollars and there weren't 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.720 that many rands around, which means that they were scarce, 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.320 which means again according to supply and demand, Um, they 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:32.000 were valuable and that hence they had purchasing power. Yeah, 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.520 and um, it's really unbelievable. But it got so bad 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:39.040 they were printing money in larger and larger denominations because 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.080 they had to, because people couldn't carry around. You'd have 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.080 to have a suitcase full of money to buy your 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:48.000 toilet paper. So they ended up producing a one hundred 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.320 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note that you can now buy on 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:56.560 eBay for about five bucks. Yeah, that's sad. While when 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.280 it was released it was worth about thirty Yeah, and 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:05.280 that's actual conversion rate, Like now it's only worth something 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:09.400 on eBay. Yeah, there is no conversion rate, right, Um, 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:10.800 I think I'm gonna get one, not just to have 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:16.520 it do it? Yeah, okay, so what is it? Three 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:22.199 d trillion dollar notes? Um? But that's the fact that 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.080 the Zimbabwean government wasn't tracking their money in the first place, 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.560 and they didn't track it after they kept releasing it 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:32.480 again and again, and there was no buyback program. They 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:35.919 just said, you guys keep that. Um. They have no 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:41.560 idea how many Zimbabwean dollars were released just in the century, 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:43.680 let alone how money are out there on the market. 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:48.120 So that's why it's virtually impossible to track how much 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:50.600 money is out there in the world. But that hasn't 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:53.600 stopped at least one guy. Well, actually that's not true. 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.640 I talked to Katherine Whitbourne today and she was saying 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.040 that the guy gave up the most recent figures she 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.840 could find with two dozens him because he's like, forget this, Yeah, 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:06.360 miquet of dollar days with the z dot com. Um, yeah, 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:08.000 I guess he gave up on a huh that was 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.240 his blog, his econ blog, and he was tracking a 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:15.000 hundred thirty five currencies uh in a hundred and sixty 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.920 seven countries, and I guess December two, thou ten is 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:21.440 probably one of the last stats he has then if 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:26.040 that's when he quit UM in his MO money equal 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:29.960 to five point trillion in US dollars in circulation M 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:36.200 two was fifty five trillion, So fifty five trillion bucks. Yeah, 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.480 that's the value of all the money in the world 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.960 occurring to Mike in US dollars, the US dollar value. Yeah, 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:47.480 but not just US dollars. That's everything, right, So there 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.240 you have it. Okay, So this would be a lot 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:55.760 easier to track and things like what happened in Zimbabwe 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:59.600 wouldn't happen. You would never have hyper inflation if we 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:04.199 all used a universal worldwide currency. Yeah, let's talk about that. 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.840 No less than John Maynard Keynes has suggested that, and 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.720 it's been bandied about for a long time since World 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:15.479 War two, well even before then. Yeah, I don't think 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.720 it's I think it was maybe closest to happening maybe 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.639 after World War two, well, which wasn't very close. You know, 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.760 there were instances of what were to the people who 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:30.720 were using the currency was effectively a universal currency like UM. 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:34.600 A lot the early imperial powers of China and Rome 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:38.560 used a single currency in all the lands they conquered, 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.399 which is why hordes of Roman silver coins are found 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:45.960 in fields in the UK still today. Um, but it's 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:50.640 still not technically a worldwide currency. But world War two 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:54.000 we came very close, right. Yeah. Let's talk about some 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:56.280 of the pros. I guess, um, because it's I mean, 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:57.760 if you look it up on the internet, there's a 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:02.080 lot of debate still going on. Um. Some of the pros. 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:06.399 Speculators can't short a currency. That scenario you were talking about, 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:09.880 like the value and currency to pay back debts, right, 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.600 that'd be gone because it wouldn't be a commodity. There 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:18.560 wouldn't any other currency to exchange it against. So therefore 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:21.520 it's just a dollar just can be used to buy 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.640 something you can't buy and sell it itself. It would 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:28.280 be valueless like that. Exporters wouldn't have to worry about 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:31.960 price gaps. There would be no conversion fees, which would 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:36.560 free up money for like healthcare or whatever, I mean, 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:41.080 something good to spend it on. Um. Of course, I'm 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:44.080 just this is utopian outlook like, oh yeah, then they 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:46.760 could spend it on healthcare ideally, but it would free 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.720 up money. Um, it would end disputes about a currency 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:55.040 manipulation um like China. Um. So they're like there are 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:59.119 some pros. For sure, you wouldn't have to stand in 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:01.880 line at the combie centers and exchange your money when 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:04.359 you traveled, No, and um convenience you. Me and I 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:07.639 went to Europe this summer and it was nice to 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:10.680 not We just exchanged once. Yeah, that hasn't been since 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:13.840 the euro it's like everywhere, um, and even in places 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:19.840 in Croatia they still use their currency, but everybody accepts euros. Yeah. 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:24.119 I bet they accept American dollars there too. Um. I 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:27.399 kind of enjoyed the different currencies. Oh yeah, it's pretty 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:30.000 and it's just neat. I kind of enjoyed the I mean, 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:32.000 I guess it was. I didn't see it as a hassle. 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:33.359 Maybe I was young, but I always thought it was 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:35.159 kind of neat, Like let me go turn in my 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.159 francs for uh for my German dollars. Well, it just 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:43.560 sucks to lose money buying another currency, yeah, or to 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:46.240 come out ahead though, that's when you're rocking right sometimes. 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:49.440 But it's been a while since that happened. Well, this 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:52.640 was in the mid ninety nineties, so the American dollar 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:55.000 was we were doing pretty well in Eastern Europe the 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:57.479 dollar was sound as the pound, but we we got 0:22:57.560 --> 0:23:00.440 killed in England of course, as always, yeah, because your 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:04.560 pound is so awesome. Well, that was the big discrepancy 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:07.159 after World War Two, like when we came close to 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:11.399 adopting universal currency, the Americans and the Brits couldn't decide 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:14.480 on what to value it against the pound or the dollar, 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:17.920 and so it just fell apart. Well, the Pew Research 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:22.359 Center did a poll and apparently of Americans believe that 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:27.119 we will have a universal currency by um But the 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:29.400 article I got that from, the guy speculates that could 0:23:29.440 --> 0:23:32.119 be because we're sort of programmed to think that the 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:35.800 future will be like that, because every entirely, yeah, like 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:39.240 every sci fi movie ever, it's like, you know, universal credits. 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:42.520 It's not even like cash. So people just kind of 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:44.520 have that in the back of their minds. So there's 0:23:44.560 --> 0:23:48.159