$50 Trillion Lost

'£35.7 trillion' lost by recession

In a study commissioned by the Manila-based lender on the impact of the financial crisis on emerging economies, it estimated the value of financial assets worldwide - currency, equity and bond markets - to have dropped by $50 trillion (£35.7 trillion) in 2008.

Time to do some math.

Let's say we can buy a couch for $500 at a discount store and that it is five feet long. Let's start stacking the couches end over end to see how far we can go if we spend $50 trillion.

Total Distance = $50,000,000,000,000 / $500 x 5' = 500,000,000,000 feet

That's 94.7 million miles.

Now picture us aiming this structure towards the sun. Our sun is only 93,000,000 miles away. It would actually reach!

Too bad we lost the money. It would have been one heck of a cool looking structure. Imagine the top of it burning as it sweeps through the sun once every 24 hours as our planet rotates.

I'm resorting to cartoon physics of course. There's no way that that even couches made in America could have supported the weight. There's also no way the structure could have reached that level of rotation without flinging off into space.

In my defense, studies suggest that cartoon physics works better for simulating cartoon economics though. More of the humor is retained. Who am I to argue? The stacking math is real though. All too real. Sigh.