How much money in the world?

[alexsok]

So Forbes says that the wealth of the richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion (which is of course all the wealth that they have in stocks, bonds, etc):

http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurash...ve-as-much-wealth-as-the-3-5-billion-poorest/

While this article on Gizmodo (and many other sites) says that M1 is $25 trillion, M2 is $60 trillion and M3 is $75 trillion which brings us to roughly $160 trillion.

http://gizmodo.com/5995301/how-much-money-is-there-on-earth

Does that basically mean that the wealthy control $110 trillion of all money in the world? Does that leave only $50 trillion for all the world governments?

This is massively confusing.

 

[pcchen]

The $110 trillion number is likely to be mostly investments, real estates, etc., not currencies. The M1, M2, and M3 numbers are currencies. They are not really comparable.

 

[Colourless]

Yeah, the $110 trillion would be the sum of the estimated market value of all the richest peoples liquid and nonliquid assets minus their liabilities. They wouldn't hold that much actual currency though, because in this day and age they would do most transactions electronically. Cash held in a bank account doesn't count either. It doesn't need to be backed by actual currency in most cases.

 

[alexsok]

So there is no estimate out there that calculates both the liquid and nonliquid assets together?

 

[pcchen]

So there is no estimate out there that calculates both the liquid and nonliquid assets together?

In the same report, it's stated that "almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population" so I guess they estimated the world's wealth is a little more than $220 trillion.

 

[liolio]

I don't know for the "money" but there are (alleged) numbers for the size of the derivative market... and it sounds crazy but I saw the figure 700 trillions multiple times.
The worst banks are JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, both with 70 trillions exposure to derivative.
That's around the world GDP .

Iffy figures those it gives sense to saying as "Too big to fail".

 

[pcchen]

I don't know for the "money" but there are (alleged) numbers for the size of the derivative market... and it sounds crazy but I saw the figure 700 trillions multiple times.
The worst banks are JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, both with 70 trillions exposure to derivative.
That's around the world GDP .

Iffy figures those it gives sense to saying as "Too big to fail".

The problem with the "size of the derivative market" is that it's not very meaningful. At the end of 2013, all OTC derivatives were valued at around 710 trillion dollars. However, a significant part of these (about 460 trillion) are interest rate swaps, which is a very popular hedging tool. However, this is basically just A paying B with a floating interest rate while B paying A with a fixed interest rate. This greatly inflates the nominal "value" of these contracts, but it's actually no more than people paying each other to take advantage of differences in interest rates (for an example).

 

[Onkl Bjorni]

*edit*
Just realised that the second link in op post is the same video as the one I posted.. Must be the warm weather we have that is affecting me
So just ignore this post

 

[MfA]

A lot of wealth is held unencumbered by debt and consequently there is not enough money in the world to buy all wealth.

 

[homerdog]

This may help the OP:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_reserve_banking

I like this quote:

In the real world, the money a bank lends may end up in the same bank so that it then has more money to lend out.

This gives me a fanstastic idea - I will loan myself $60,000 to pay off my student loans!

 

[Blazkowicz]

Lend me $60,000 and I'll lend you back. If you agree, I'll send you a bitcoin account identifier so you can transfer the money.


sorry about the joke but that examplifies bank have "trust" . Do you have trust? then you can proceed with me.

 

[homerdog]

How come it seems to really make it to the middle class in the US unless you're in healthcare, simply working isn't good enough any more? Mostly you can't get a good 8-5 job and support a family well. If you want the good life you must put other people to work for you and pay them just enough so they don't jump out the 4th floor window. Now maybe it's always been this way but from everything I know that's not the case.

 

[Blazkowicz]

Funny that you're mentioning healthcare, it's siphoning like 10% of your GDP. I read a comment elsewhere that in the issue there's an obsession with having people not perceive "undue" healthcare (like undue welfare) so there's an army of lawyers and accoutants that spend $5 to save $0.50, to quote it.
That's "fair" and "free market", but I'd call that USSR-level of bureaucratic overhead and waste.

Likewise the financial cancer, and other industries nickel and dime you (cable TV, internet providers). So with a good 8-5 (9-5?) job in the US I guess you should easily be in the planet's top 5%, but you've got all these private leeches sucking blood out of you. Also, the tendance to use credit card instead of debit card, and the student debts.

It's funny.. and all that crap is almost self-imposed.
I think I should come over there, get a mediocre job, and live my way (rent housing, possibly with two other people and put at least some minimal money in savings ; no car (or some small tired old crap), debit card, dumb phone, no TV or off-the-air. I'm sure people like that laugh all the way seeing people with $20K more struggle.
I'd expect to spend 30% of income on health insurance though.