THE AMOUNT OF MONEY WE'VE "CREATED" SUGGESTS WE'RE "AS RICH AS CROESUS" ... BUT WE'RE REALLY LIVING IN A FINANCIAL HOUSE OF CARDS

Have you ever wondered how much money humans have created up to this point in history? Whether it's real, in special accounts, or claimed in derivative contracts, it's quite considerable (more on this below). 

Unfortunately, for all the money we've created - or now makes claims to - we're not living in the best of times. Like in the story of Croesus, we are learning that having access to all the wealth one could ever imagine brings neither happiness nor the tranquility many want to believe might come with having so much money.

Croesus, King of Lydia (located in modern Turkey), is the inspiration for the term "As rich as Croesus."

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As a starting point for understanding how much money we've created, the block chart below provides insight into how much real and digital money we have floating around the world ... 

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In real simple terms about $80.9 trillion has been created. About $5 trillion of that amount in real cash and coins. The remainder is available in checking accounts - about $20.8 trillion - or in specialized instruments, like savings and money market accounts, which contributes another $60.1 trillion.

But this is just the beginning. 

When we add debt contracts and the increasingly obnoxious derivative claims on money we learn that we have created such a colossal sum of money that even Croesus might wince. 

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So how much money have we created? More to the point, how much have we created, and now have a claim to in our digitalized world? Croesus would be impressed. It's probably well over a quadrillion dollars. Check out the video clip below...

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One more point. The pile of money we've "created" is really a house of cards. My regular readers, and those who understand derivative instruments, know why.

More on this later. Stay tuned.

- Mark