"Do you think the US government could cover every single cent if all the depositors wanted their money out now?
Not even physical cash, just a transfer to an overseas account. The money simply isn't there and the scales are enormous."
What do you mean by "money"? How can money "simply" not be available, when it's a matter of updating a row in a database? The issue is whether assets exist. Googling suggests the US contains assets worth $124 trillion; is that incredible to you?
And if we wanted to print $124 trillion of cash to represent all the assets, that would be silly, but just as doable as a wall on the Mexican border.
Not even physical cash, just a transfer to an overseas account. The money simply isn't there and the scales are enormous."
What do you mean by "money"? How can money "simply" not be available, when it's a matter of updating a row in a database? The issue is whether assets exist. Googling suggests the US contains assets worth $124 trillion; is that incredible to you?
And if we wanted to print $124 trillion of cash to represent all the assets, that would be silly, but just as doable as a wall on the Mexican border.