> ----------
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED][SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Reply To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 11:10 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: trillions a day?
>
> On 13 May 2002 at 18:27, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
>
> > Right, though I'm sure you're wishing it wasn't. Again, crime,
> > illegal markets if you will are piddly bits of pocket fluff in the
> > global economy. $4 trillion worth of foreign exchange alone happened
> > today.
>
> How could this possibly be true? :ast I checked, GDP for the US
> was about 10 trillion bucks a year, the combined GDP of
> every nation on earth per year can't be more than 100 trillion,
> most of which doesn't involve anything crosiing a border,
> so how can there possibly be trillions of dollars worth of
> foreign exchange a day?
>
> George
>
Because the money that moves is not the same as the value
of the goods that move.
Back in the 80's, I worked at Irving Trust, a large, venerable
(and since taken-over) major money center bank in NYC
(I was literally across the street from the WTC). I worked
on telecommunications software.
In Federal Funds alone, we typically moved about 100
BILLION dollars a day. That was 15 years ago, on just
one system, at just one bank.
I was as incredulous as you, until I worked out what was
going on - like the tide, the same money was passing
through our computers each day. A massive, invisible
tsunami of money flows all the way around the world
every 24 hours, chasing the sun and the best return.
Now there's in image to conjure with.
Peter Trei
