The IMF is a miserabilist organisation. Always has been (remember the 1976 crisis); always will be.
Now it estimates that the worldwide losses of the financial institutions as a result of the credit crunch will amount to nearly $1 trillion. That is $1,000,000,000,000. If it makes it any easier to comprehend, convert it to sterling: £500,000,000,000.
That's a lot of money, by the way.
2 comments:
As someone who knows about 1976 money issues, you may help with this one:
For every financial winner there is a financial loser I would think. So if someone loses $1 trillion does that not mean someone out there must also gain it?
I'm embarrassed to say I've considered this for weeks and still don't know for sure if someone is laughing their way to bank from all of this.
But yes, a trillion sounds made up but seeing all those 000's together is really quite sobering.
I'll be keeping my money under my mattress for another few weeks yet though...
I'll think about it but I suspect the matter is too deep for me. Arguably, if the losses are caused by asset writedown, then the winners would have been whoever sold the assets to the financial institutions at an unjustifiable price. Or perhaps the institutions themselves over-valued their assets, thus sharing in the benefits?
HW
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