WEBVTT - How much money is in the world? 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:06.240 Welcome to Stuff you should Know from house stuff Works 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:15.000 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:17.400 and I'm with Charles W Chuck, Bryan, he's right here 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:22.079 with me. So it's stuff you should know. It's also 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:25.919 really stuff you should know because Jerry's here too. Oh 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:28.280 the chairs not here. It's fake stuff you should know. 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:31.800 It's less than vintage stuff you should know. Got you. 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:37.160 I mean it's not bad. Yeah, it's not great. Yeah, 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:41.360 I'm sure Matt and everyone appreciate that. N listen to 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:46.519 this crap? Yeah, Chuck, Yes, how much money do you 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:51.000 have on you right now? Cash? Zero dollars and zero cents? Well, 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.400 that's stupid, because you should have thirty eight in cash 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.360 on you. I never have cash. Well, you should almost 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.480 never have cash. You should have thirty eight hundred dollars 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:03.680 in cash on you right now. So should I? So 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:09.800 should Jerry. Um, but we don't. We don't. It's sad 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:14.760 I in my pocket. Okay, Well, let's let's explain why 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:18.920 I just said that. Huh was I supposed to? That's 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:21.120 all right, I'll do it. Um, I can do it. 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.080 That's how much if you divide up all the money 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:29.039 between all the Americans. That's how much we should all have. Bam, bam. 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:33.120 So we're trying to answer a question here, how much 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:37.320 money is there in the world. Um, And we'll get 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.200 to that. There's a there's actually a rough estimate out 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.200 there that may be right. But instead, first let's talk 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:47.639 about how much American money there is in the world. 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.200 And not just because we're American, but because it is 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:54.320 the standard currency worldwide. It's the closest thing to the 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:59.480 universal currency that we have, um, the dollar, the green bag. Yeah, 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:05.480 but um, that's not, as I guess, um, widespread as 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.120 it once was. A lot of people have abandoned the dollar, 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:13.239 um and now use a basket of currencies to value 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:18.359 their currency against very rebellious Um. But still the dollar 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:21.880 is generally what's you to say for oil speculation? And 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:24.720 imagine the dollars in that basket too though right, maybe 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:30.280 maybe not, It depends on how much they hate America. So, UM, 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:32.560 what you were talking about though, was all the money 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.960 divided up by all the Americans coming up to thirty 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:40.760 eight dollars. That's called the M zero money supply. Of course, 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.880 you know how I read that m O. The more 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.560 money supply. I was like, what and then I read 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:49.600 I read it again. I said, it can't be called 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.840 the more money Supply, and then I realized that was 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.200 a zero and not an O. It uh, it looks 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.200 very much like the more money Supply. I wrote this article. 0:02:57.480 --> 0:02:59.880 I realized it, and I never saw it like that 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.560 until you just said that. Yeah, I like the more 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:05.960 money supply better than the M O. It's good, but 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:07.920 it is M O for a reason. There's also the 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.079 M one, M two, and there wasn't M three, which 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.160 we'll get to, right. And the people who came up 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:14.519 with this was the Federal Reserve Bank, the United States 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.560 Central Bank, right, And they like to track money. That's 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.120 one of the things they do to amuse themselves. Count yeah, 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:26.160 count money, um, and go to sleep on piles of 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:31.200 gold ingots. But the Fed came up with this M 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.760 I'm sorry, this MO money supply, also known as the 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.160 M zero supply, and that is all of the bills 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:42.400 and coins, all of the actual hard currency that exists 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:47.040 in the world anywhere in US dollars and as of 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:51.560 July two thirteen, Hey, that's recent. Yeah, that came to 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:55.240 a we should say. Catherine Whitbourne from the Coolest Stuff 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:58.080 on the Planet update. She updated this, so the fact 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:00.280 that this is as up today as it is thanks 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:04.240 to her um but the the m so the more 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:07.960 money supply as of July two Thousteen is one point 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.160 to trillion dollars. That's all the cash and all the 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:14.080 coins all over the world of American dollars, the real 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:17.880 dollars that you can collect and put together you can 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.200 light your cigars with, yeah, or you can throw into 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:26.720 a fountain. Yeah. One point to trillion US dollars. So 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.800 that's how much money was in the world. But and 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:33.120 and we said, also, that's thirty eight hundred for every 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:37.040 American man, woman, and child, all three hundred and sixteen million, 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.920 six hundred and sixty eight thousand, five hundred and sixty 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:43.480 seven Americans that were alive in July of two thousand thirteen, 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:45.919 each one should have had thirty eight hundred bucks in 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.039 their pocket. Because we're not talking checking accounts, we're talking 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:51.440 in the actual currency that people are walking around with. 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:54.640 Since I don't have thirty eight hundred dollars in my 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.560 pocket and I didn't in July, you don't, Jerry, No, 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.800 Jerry's got more. Where is this stuff. That's a good question. 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:05.360 I wonder how that clock ticks, by the way, the 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.320 population clock. I'd like to see a real time like 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.640 three people died, four people born, people died, eight people born, 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.200 said its wins. I wonder if it ever does go 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.440 backwards for a second. It's got too because people are dying, 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.240 but more people are being born than people are dying. Yeah, 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:24.760 it depends on the country you're talking about. Yeah, that's true. Um. 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:26.520 I always drive by the one in Atlanta, you know, 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:30.000 on the population clock that's been there forever. When I 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:31.960 was a kid, I remember when the top two million 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.119 it was like whoa, and now it's whatever three points something, 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.520 is it? Yeah? I mean that's metro Atlanta, right, it's 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:43.839 not city of Atlanta. Um, alright, So back to it. Uh, 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.320 where were we hard to track the more money? No, 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.120 we were talking about where the thirty eight hundred bucks 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.920 that should be in our pockets is. Oh well, um, 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:55.599 about a half to two thirds of that is overseas. 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:00.960 It's an overseas pockets, that's right, or overseas bank account sir. No, No, 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.679 we're not talking bank accountants. That's just money, that's right. Yeah, 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.320 So that means that there are people walking around overseas 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:11.840 with cash on them American dollar, American dollars, which makes 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.040 a lot of sense. And so when you start to 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.000 divide the amount of money at one point two trillion 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.000 buy a lot more than three and sixteen million people. 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:23.839 That explains why I have a single dollar bill on 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.479 my person right now, why I have nothing? Right and 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:31.240 Jerry nothing nothing man, We're sad sex Okay, So that's 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.400 just the MO money supply. Yeah, the M zero. The 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:39.080 M one is all of the more money plus checking 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.120 account money and other kinds of just accounts that you 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:46.479 can you know, track and travelers checks. Yeah, very very 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.599 liquid types of accounts. Yes, that's the M one. Yeah 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.479 supply that And it's funny that you were having trouble 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.320 wrapping your head around the fact that we were talking 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:57.799 about cash outside of banks for the M zero supply. 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.839 I had the same problem too, like it's hard to 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:05.240 think of money outside of banks in this day and age. Yeah, 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.320 you could rarely have cash on hand us like debit 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.240 cards and credit cards and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.480 American Express for everything. That's funny that on this audio 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:18.560 podcast you just held it up to your face and 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.040 you said that, um, so that's the M one. In 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.640 June of of this year, of the M one supply 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.520 was about two point five trillion, so the more money 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.120 supply was one point two. The M one was two 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:35.520 point five. That's all the accounts and checking accounts, travelers checks. 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.880 Then there's the M two, which is the M one 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:44.840 supply plus UH money market fund, money savings accounts, and 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.520 CDs under a hundred grand, which they call small c 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.840 d s, right comes from. That's a pretty good CD, 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.920 well CD over a hundred grants called jumbo Yeah, I 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.360 was looking up jumbo rates that used to be something 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:00.160 like four and a quarter. Some of them would be 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:04.520 like for like a ten year yeah, so you get 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.360 like twenty two grand back over now I'm sorry, five years. 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.600 So you go give a bank a hundred grand, say 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:12.760 keep this for five years paying me back, and they 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:15.600 would give you twenty two interests, So you get a 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:19.560 hundred and twenty two cryan not very long ago, a 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:22.280 couple of years ago before the crash. You want to 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.120 know what it's at right now. For a hundred thousand 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:30.280 dollar three year I believe c D, a jumbo c D, 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.000 you get like one point four percent it's only worth 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.680 your time to give a bank a hundred thousand dollars 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:40.720 to keep for three years. They'll give you fourteen hundred dollars. 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:44.520 As nine go to the dog track with a hundred 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:52.640 thousand dollars and you leave Heroin Addict crying um. Alright, 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.640 So the M to supply, which like I said, was 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.120 it was the M one supply plus money market fund 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:01.560 saving counts and those smaller CDs. Ten point five trillion. 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:06.360 That's virtually all of the American money in the world 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.840 pretty much, because they got rid of M three basically 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.960 in two thousand six, because they said, it really doesn't 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:16.080 tell us much to know what the larger jumbo CDs 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:18.160 are adding to this pile. It doesn't change things that much, 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:22.320 I guess. I imagine there's just not that many exactly. 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:26.760 So about ten point five trillion US dollars in accounts 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:32.360 and in cash um in holdings in the world in 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.960 about July June July two that's a lot of dough 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.319 to say. That's a lot of mula, right, and if 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.360 you want to, yeah, it even says here it did. 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:43.920 And that's when I looked up It's like who wrote this? 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:47.720 It was like oops. I thought this was well done. 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:49.720 Well and I learned how to spell mula. I didn't know. 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.240 Don't don't pitch now, I'm serious. I literally thought, oh, 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.360 that's how you spell mula. How do you think you 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.360 spelled it? I don't know m U l A No, 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:01.280 I'm just never thought of I've never seen it spelled 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.800 out m O O l A. H Uh, that's a 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:31.280 p standard exactly. So um this I think we've kind 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:35.360 of pointed out it's tough to track money like this. Well, yeah, 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:36.959 it's not the easiest thing. They do a pretty good 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.480 job of it that the FED does specifically because it's 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.040 just what they do and they love doing that. Yeah, 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:43.920 but it's you know, it's an estimate still, Like, no 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:45.560 one knows how much cash I have in my house, 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:47.640 no one asked me no. But they know how much 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:49.600 was printed, They keep track of that kind of stuff, 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:53.480 how much is destroyed, how much in circulation, um. And 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.640 you know there's bank reportings. They know how much a 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:59.160 bank has at the FED UM, so they have a 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:02.240 It's it's pretty close estimate from what I understand. The 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:06.320 thing is, not every country has a FED like the 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:11.360 FED in the US, and that makes it way harder 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.160 to say how much money is in the entire world, 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.400 not just US dollars, but all the money in the 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:20.560 entire world, and more difficult to control your economy. It 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:22.200 is if you if you don't know how much money 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:25.679 you have, it's very difficult to sway your economy one 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:29.200 way or the other. Right exactly. So, Um, Zimbabwe is 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.120 a really good example, man, of why it's so hard 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:34.920 to track a lot of money, and also what happens 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.400 when you don't track your money, yeah, or what happens 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.800 when you decide, in order to fix economic woes, let's 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.640 just start printing more money, because that's um. If you 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:49.079 know nothing about finance and economics, a common thing you 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.400 might think is, well, they could probably just infuse some 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:56.320 some cash flow by printing money occasionally, and they do occasionally. 0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:59.800 But in Zimbabwe they did it to such an extent 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:02.720 with a zim dollar, which I didn't even believe that 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.280 was right. It's actually called a zim dollar. Sounds like 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:11.000 something from a movie. Um, not a good one exactly. Uh. 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:14.400 They printed so much money that they encountered hyper inflation 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:18.400 like the world has never seen before. Yeah, So it's ridiculous. 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:22.560 Numbers yes, this hyper inflation in two thousand and six, 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:25.120 it was. It was really bad, and two thousand Zimbabwe 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:30.160 started to enter an inflationary spiral. Um In two thousand 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:34.400 and six, it was so bad that a sheet, not 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:38.400 a roll, a sheet of toilet paper cost four hundred 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:43.560 and seventeen Zim dollars. Okay, yeah, a roll of toilet 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:46.480 paper cost a hundred and forty five thousand, seven hundred 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:49.719 and fifty dollars. Broke so quick and Zimbabwe, well, that's 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.360 the thing. Everybody would have gone broke. But it wasn't 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:55.680 that the toilet paper was very expensive. It was that 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.000 the Zim dollars had very little purchasing power. And that 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:03.960 was because dollars, just like any other commodity, are subject 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:06.240 to the influences of supply and demand, and when there's 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:09.199 a lot of them on the market, their value decreases. 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.319 That's how the US government has managed to stay afloat 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.439 so many times they release a bunch of money, They 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.120 cause inflation so that the debts that they owe are 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.280 worth less. So when they pay him off, it hurts 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:24.840 the government less. It's a really horrible thing to do 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:29.360 to your investors, but it's it's done. But that's the point. 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:31.800 When you have a lot of dollars out there, you 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:36.160 have less purchasing power per dollar. And that's what was 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.720 going on in Zimbabwe, and things got really out of 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:43.959 hand because they decided to fight this by printing more dollars. Yeah, 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:45.840 they really got out of hand. That Some of these 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.960 stats in here are just staggering. Um, you said that 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:53.640 every what you didn't say, You report that it is 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:57.720 estimated that it was equivalent to prices doubling in stores 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.400 every one point three days. Yeah, the most I saw 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:04.000 was every twenty four point seven hours. Prices. Essentially, we're 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.520 being doubled by the way of the dollar losing value, right. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.040 Like the kind of inflation that we're looking at right 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:12.439 here in America right now is like in the single 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:16.600 digit percentiles, and it's being kept low by the Fed 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:22.120 on purpose. But we're talking like doubling increase. Like the 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:24.000 toilet papers this much the next day is twice as 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.840 much the next day, it's three times that. And that's 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:31.080 just not gonna affect economy. That's gonna like, I mean 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.040 think about it. Its toilet paper costs that much money. 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.360 People are gonna stop using toilet paper. That leads to 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.320 poor sanitation, that leads to you know, it's just a 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.080 domino effect. Well, there was a joke that the toilet 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.640 paper was so expensive of the dollar, the zim zim 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.200 dollar bought such a little toilet paper that it was 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:50.800 actually more useful as toilet paper than to buy toilet 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:53.840 paper with. Yeah, that's not funny, but well yeah, yeah, 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.760 appear in Zimbabwe is not. But the annual inflation was 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:03.120 um estimated. Like this was watching Zimbabwe if you were 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:07.600 a currency or monetary policy economists, it was like a 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.840 dream come true. Last time something happened this bad it 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.800 was Hungary in ninety six. I think we talked about that. Yeah, um, 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.200 I think it was in the super Stuff Guide to 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:23.320 Economics or spoken word album. Um. But the the inflation 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:29.360 in Zimbabwe was estimated at five hundred and sixteen quintillion percent. 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.520 That's by the end of two thousand eight. Okay, that's 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.640 not even the highest that I've seen. Now, the highest 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:40.240 I saw is eighty nine point seven sex tillion percent, 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:45.320 which is a eighty nine point seven billion trillion percent 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.680 or eighty nine point seven ten to the twenty one 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:52.040 power percent. That was their annual rate of inflation, and 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.680 that was probably early two thousand nine. Yeah, yeah, because 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.080 in January two thousand nine they basically said you can 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:03.120 start using four in currency again, which helps stabilizings a 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:08.520 tiny the tiniest bit, but it it didn't obviously work well. 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:13.200 It ended inflation abruptly because they abandoned these dollars. The 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:17.000 currency lost value so much that everybody stopped using it 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.280 and they went to the South African rand and the 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.480 US dollar. That took four months from January to April 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.840 for basically to completely abandon their money, right, so four 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:31.000 months in the country's money is literally useless. And when 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:33.040 they did, when they did abandon it was actually a 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.080 pretty good move, Like you couldn't carry the economy with 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:38.640 this money any longer because it was so value that 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:40.560 they're in bad shape no matter what. But at least 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.320 they that was a good move, right. And Um, the 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:45.480 reason it was a good move because it stopped inflation 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:47.600 because there weren't that many dollars and there weren't that 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:51.040 many rands around, which means that they were scarce, which 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.560 means again according to supply and demand, um, they were 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:58.440 valuable and that hence they had purchasing power yeah, and um, 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.960 it's really unbelieved doable. But it got so bad they 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.159 were printing money in larger and larger denominations because they 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.119 had to because people couldn't carry around. You'd have to 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.760 have a suitcase full of money to buy your toilet paper. 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:15.960 So they ended up producing a one hundred trillion Zimbabwean 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.879 dollar note that you can now buy on eBay for 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:22.800 about five bucks. Yeah, that's sad. While when it was 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.760 released it was worth about thirty Yeah, and that's actual 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:31.920 conversion rate, Like now it's only worth something on eBay. 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.400 What there is? Yeah, there is no conversion rate, right, Um, 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:36.800 I think I'm gonna get one, not just to have 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.960 it do it? Yeah, okay, so get you one to thanks. 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:47.040 What is it? Three hundred trillion dollar notes? Um, But 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.080 that's the fact that the Zimbabwean government wasn't tracking their 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:52.520 money in the first place, and they didn't track it 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:56.480 after they kept releasing it again and again. Yeah, and 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.040 there was no buy back program. They just said, you 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:02.720 guys keep that. Um. They have no idea how many 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:08.040 Zimbabwean dollars were released just in the century, let alone 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.360 how many are out there on the market. So that's 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:14.520 why it's virtually impossible to track how much money is 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:17.280 out there in the world. But that hasn't stopped at 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.240 least one guy. Well, actually that's not true. I talked 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:22.840 to Catherine Whitbourne today and she was saying that the 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.440 guy gave up the most recent figures she could find 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:27.840 with two dozen ten because he's like, forget this, Yeah, 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:32.360 miquet of dollar days with the z dot com um. Yeah, 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:33.960 I guess he gave up on a huh that was 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.240 his blog, his econ blog, and he was tracking a 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:41.000 hundred thirty five currencies, uh in a hundred and sixty 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.920 seven countries, and I guess December two thousand ten, it's 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:47.440 probably one of the last stats he has then if 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:52.040 that's when he quit. Um in his MO money equal 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:55.960 to five point trillion in US dollars in circulation M 0:18:56.000 --> 0:19:02.320 two was fifty five trillion, So fifty five trillion bucks. Yeah, 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:04.480 that's the value of all the money in the world 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.880 occurring to Mike in US dollars, the US dollar value, 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:13.480 but not just US dollars. That's everything, right, So there 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:17.240 you have it. Okay, So this would be a lot 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:21.639 easier to track and things like what happened in Zimbabwe 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:25.639 wouldn't happen. You would never have hyper inflation if we 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:30.199 all used a universal worldwide currency. Yeah, let's talk about that. 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.840 No less than John Maynard Keynes has suggested that, and 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:37.720 it's been bandied about for a long time since World 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:41.479 War two, well even before then. Yeah, I don't think 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:44.720 it's I think it was maybe closest to happening maybe 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.879 after World War two, well, which wasn't very close. No, 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.760 there were instances of what were to the people who 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:56.720 were using the currency was effectively a universal currency like um, 0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:00.600 A lot the early imperial powers of China and Rome 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.560 used a single currency in all the lands they conquered, 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:08.399 which is why hordes of Roman silver coins are found 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:11.920 in fields in the UK still today. Um. But it's 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:16.640 still not technically a worldwide currency. But world War two 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:20.000 we came very close, right. Yeah, let's talk about some 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:22.240 of the pros. I guess, um, because it's I mean, 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:23.760 if you look it up on the internet, there's a 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:28.119 lot of debate still going on. Um, some of the pros. 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:32.399 Speculators can't short a currency. That scenario you were talking about, 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:35.880 like the value and currency to pay back debts, right, 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:38.600 that'd be gone because it wouldn't be a commodity. There 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:44.560 wouldn't any other currency to exchange it against. So therefore 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:47.520 it's just a dollar just can be used to buy 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.680 something you can't buy and sell it itself. It would 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:54.280 be valueless like that. Exporters wouldn't have to worry about 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.960 price gaps. There would be no conversion fees, which would 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:02.560 free up money for like healthcare or whatever, I mean, 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:07.080 something good to spend it on. Um. Of course, I'm 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:10.080 just this is utopian outlook like, oh yeah, then they 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:12.760 could spend it on healthcare ideally, but it would free 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:17.480 up money. Um, it would in disputes about a currency manipulation, um, 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:21.600 like China. Um. So they're like, there are some pros 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:25.439 for sure. You wouldn't have to stand in line at 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:28.639 the cambio centers and exchange your money when you traveled. No, 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:31.040 and um convenience you mean and I went to Europe 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.560 this summer and it was nice to not we just 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:37.720 exchanged once. Yeah, that hadn't been since the euro It's 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:41.840 like everywhere, um, and even in places in Croatia they 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:46.000 still use their currency, but everybody accepts euros. Yeah, I 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:50.400 bet they accept American dollars there too. Um, I kind 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:53.760 of enjoyed the different currencies. Oh yeah, it's pretty and 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:56.000 it's just neat. I kind of enjoyed the I mean, 0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:58.000 I guess it was. I didn't see it as a hassle. 0:21:58.040 --> 0:21:59.359 Maybe I was young, but I always thought it was 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:01.159 kind of neat, Like, let me go turn in my 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:04.159 francs for uh, for my German dollars. Well, it just 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:09.560 sucks to lose money buying another currency, yeah, or to 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:12.240 come out ahead though, that's when you're rocking right sometimes. 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:15.440 But it's been a while since that happened. Well, this 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.640 was in the mid ninety nineties, so the American dollar 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:21.000 was we were doing pretty well in Eastern Europe. The 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:23.760 dollar was sound as the pound, but we got killed 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:26.879 in England of course, as always, because your pound is 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:31.040 so awesome. Well, that was the big discrepancy after World 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:35.080 War Two, Like when we came close to adopting universal currency, 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:37.960 the Americans and the Brits couldn't decide on what to 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:41.320 value it against the pound or the dollar, and so 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:44.640 it just fell apart. Well, the Pew Research Center did 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:48.359 a poll and apparently forty one of Americans believe that 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:53.119 we will have a universal currency by Um, but the 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:55.400 article I got that from, the guy speculates that could 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:58.119 be because we're sort of programmed to think that the 0:22:58.119 --> 0:23:01.800 future will be like that, because every entirely, yeah, like 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:05.240 every sci fi movie ever, it's like, you know, universal credits. 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:08.520 It's not even like cash. So people just kind of 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:10.520 have that in the back of their minds. So there's 0:23:10.560 --> 0:23:14.159 a lot of like drawbacks to a universal currency as well. 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:17.440 There's some clever things you can do if you are 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:20.600 in charge of your own currency and it's valued against 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:24.399 other currencies. One of them is, if your economy is sluggish, 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:29.359 you can release a lot of your currency, create inflation, 0:23:30.119 --> 0:23:37.520 drive prices down in your country compared to the um 0:23:37.840 --> 0:23:41.720 the buying power of a foreign currency, and attract that 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:46.120 foreign currency and get your economy kick started again. If 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:48.359