Trillion, as in 1,000,000,000,000
Robert Samuelson: Wall Street pay puzzle
In 2007, the last year before the crisis, annual production (gross domestic product) equaled almost $14 trillion. In the same year, household wealth was $77 trillion (5.5 times production); that covered the value of homes, vehicles, stocks, bonds and the like. Eliminating nonfinancial assets (mainly homes) cut wealth to about $50 trillion (3.5 times). Deducting household debts from financial wealth pushed net worth to $35 trillion (2.5 times income).
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/street-229741-wall-wealth.html
Meaningful tricks at crunch circus
As a result, too many 28 year-old math stars took risks that cost them no money upfront. AIG has already cost the American taxpayer $183 billion (Dh672bn).
But it was for two special US institutions that the Hayman man reserved his real contempt: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two "government sponsored entities" which finance much of the mortgage debt in the US.
"With $5.5 trillion of outstanding debt and Mortgage Backed Securities Guarantees, the quasi-public or now in conservatorship Fannie and Freddie have obligations that approach the total amount of government-issued bonds the US currently has outstanding. There are so many things that went wrong or are wrong at these so-called GSEs that I am not sure where to start.
http://www.business24-7.ae/Articles/2010/1/Pages/18012010/01192010_aa624e381c3b47ecbf4745a072854008.aspx
