10 Trillion (USD I think) and gazing ...

 Yeah, this is the kind of money that it is worth gazing at. I read somewhere that the world "securitization" market is worth 10 trillion. And in my profound ignorance, that caught my eye. 10 trillion, whether that is Viet Nam Dong (is that how those fellows spell their currency?) or Lao Kiep, certainly sounds impressive, but in this case I believe the unit of account to be the lofty US Dollar. Dizzying and Stunning. 

What is there to gaze at? And wonder about? 

Well, just what the heck is "securitization"? Posting some security personnel around the 10 trillion? Somehow I think not. It sounds like "securitization" means some arcane legal spell you could learn about in a high priced legal clinic in London or Frankfurt. But only after acing your Financial Accounting and Corporate Law courses, and their progeny.

Also, what kind of "trillions" are referred to? If you are old and studious, you learned in your childhood that 1 million is a number written as one "one" followed by six zeroes. Like this: 1,000,000. There, that's where English runs out of original words for numbers. After that, it is "bi" and "tri" and "quad", like in billions, and trillions and quadrillions. If your head begins spinning at all those "lions", here is a quick reference in this zoo:

1,000,000 is one million (six zeroes after the "one")

1,000,000,000,000 is one billion (twelve zeroes, twice as many as in one million)

1,000,000,000,000,000,000 is one trillion (eighteen zeroes, thrice as many as in one million)

... and so on. Just keep adding 6 zeroes at a time. Clean and straightforward logic. Good enough for mathematicians and such.

But not quite good enough for the USA Congress and their politicians. Americans wanted to get there faster than everybody else, or at least look more impressive than everybody else, so they decided to get to one billion after only 3 zeroes, like this:

1,000,000,000 is one American billion. Add just 3 additional zeroes to the 6 zeroes of one million. 

And 1,000,000,000,000 seems to be an American trillion. Just add another 3 zeroes to the American billion. 

So one American trillion is just one good old mathematician's billion. Anemic under-grown stunted little thing indeed. There is room for one million "American trillions" in one good old mathematician's trillion. Puny and pitiful little thing indeed, you couldn't even see an American trillion with the naked eye if you happen to look at a scale of good old logical and mathematically coherent trillions.

But I don't care. I still want it, just like I want any kind of billions or even millions. USD or Yens or Cuban Pesos.

And if I can not have them (as it is abundantly the case), I will gaze at them with abandon. Big money gazing all the way. And all the time.

And so I will continue my obviously incomplete exploration of my ever expanding ignorance in the process. Stay tuned.