Governments and Banks fail at arithmetic

[Coin_Master]

It should come as no surprise to some that governments, regulators and banks appear to be unable to do simple arithmetic.  This would explain why the US government continue to run into the debt ceiling while trying to borrow more and more, as if 15 trillion dollars wasn't enough.  We all remember what happened in 2008 when the banks started collapsing, but has anybody followed up on that to see how many more banks have failed.
Well it turns out that more than 500 banks have closed since 2008, when only 10 closed in the 5 years preceding the 2008 economic crash.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bank_failures_in_the_United_States_(2008-present)

Now they appear to be showing an interest in Bitcoin, but as always they cannot get even the basic facts correct.



After stating that "the total number of Bitcoins in circulation globally is about 13 million" they go on to calculate that "As recently as December 2013, with Bitcoin exchanging at near $1,100, the market capitalization was above $140 billion."

Well 13 million x $1,100 dollars is no where near $140 billion, what planet are they on?
Who are these people advising the government that cannot get even basic facts correct.



Full Document:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43339.pdf

Craig K. Elwell (EPIC FAIL)
Specialist in Marcroeconomic Policy (That cannot use a calculator)

M.Maureen Murphy (EPIC FAIL)
Legislative Attorney (That does not verify claims)

Michael V. Seitzinger (EPIC FAIL)
Legislative Attorney (That also cannot use a calculator and does not verify claims)

These people have absolutely no idea how to count, multiply 2 numbers, or double-check their facts.  Get it right people!
Governments, regulators and banks are showing a lot of interest in Bitcoin, is this because they are seeing massive numbers like $140 billion?
Their interest does seem odd considering the mountain of other 'much more urgent' problems.

Thoughts and discussion...

[BitUsher]

Very interesting but sadly not surprising at all.

[bg002h]

I think the ability to screw up multiplication by powers of ten is a uniquely American one.

Too bad we stopped here...we should have converted back in the 80's. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metric_Marvels


tl;dr: CRS multiplied by 100 instead of 10.

[WhatTheGox]

1 thousandth of the dollar use is impressive

[BADecker]

The point doesn't really have anything to do with our point. We consider Bitcoin and fiat as they affect our lives. The big money people do the same... how Bitcoin and fiat affect THEIR lives. And they publish all kinds of things so that Bitcoin and fiat keep them in some semblance of power. For example.

If fiat fell today, Bitcoin isn't strong enough to take over. Gold and silver aren't in use as a medium of exchange. Few of us are are familiar enough with barter to live by using it. In other words, our world would collapse.

The filthy rich people KNOW that fiat is hanging on by a thread. They know the fiat crash is inevitable. They fully realize that it is only a matter of time. The thing that they are doing now is to use the strength of fiat that still remains, to prepare themselves with protection, and the good life, for the time after fiat has crashed.

This is the only real reason that it appears that governments and banks fail at math. They WANT it to appear this way, because such failure and appearance of failure strengthens their positions of power for the future when fiat finally DOES crash.

After all, do you think that you will be able to find them, hidden away in THEIR armed and militarized bunkers once the rubber hits the road? And IF you find them, just what are you going to do about it?

[Coin_Master]

The filthy rich people KNOW that fiat is hanging on by a thread. They know the fiat crash is inevitable. They fully realize that it is only a matter of time. The thing that they are doing now is to use the strength of fiat that still remains, to prepare themselves with protection, and the good life, for the time after fiat has crashed.

This is the only real reason that it appears that governments and banks fail at math. They WANT it to appear this way, because such failure and appearance of failure strengthens their positions of power for the future when fiat finally DOES crash.

You make some good points, and introduce some interesting concepts.  Perhaps this may explain why China and Russia have been buying up an enormous amount of Gold and other precious metals.

"Russian central bank buys up domestic gold output"
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/11/us-russia-gold-cenbank-exclusive-idUSKCN0IV0FJ20141111

"The country expanded its stockpile...by 37.2 metric tons in September to 1,149.8 tons, according to data on the International Monetary Fund’s website."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-29/russia-buys-most-gold-for-reserves-since-financial-crisis-of-98.html

"Russia goes on decade's biggest gold buying spree"
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/nov/14/russia-goes-on-decades-biggest-gold-buying-spree

"Why Are the Chinese Buying Record Quantities of Gold?"
"This month, the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department reported that China imported 102,779 kilograms of gold from Hong Kong in November, an increase from October’s 86,299 kilograms."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2012/01/29/why-are-the-chinese-buying-record-quantities-of-gold/

"America usurped: China becomes world's largest economy - putting USA in second place for the first time in 142 years"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2785905/China-overtakes-U-S-world-s-largest-economy-IMF-says-economy-worth-17-6trillion-America-falls-second-place-time-1872.html

China now has the worlds largest economy, yes you read that right.  Now they have created a rival to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

"China launches new World Bank rival"
http://rt.com/business/198928-china-world-bank-rival/



"regarded by some as a rival for the IMF, the World Bank"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Infrastructure_Investment_Bank

Couple this with the announcement from Russia and China to a closed loop trade agreement.

"The Russian and Chinese central banks signed an agreement on yuan-ruble swaps to double trade with its biggest partner."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-13/russia-china-sign-currency-swap-agreement-to-double-100b-trade.html

"China Embraces a Russia Cut off From Western Capital"
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-16/putin-turns-to-china-as-russias-economy-is-weakened-by-sanctions

Add to the mix some nuclear military drills.

Russia announced its nuclear forces will conduct a drill along the border with China later this month.
"Russia’s nuclear forces will hold another large-scale exercise this month along the country’s border with China."
http://thediplomat.com/2014/09/russia-to-conduct-more-nuclear-drills/

"Russia to Hold Major Nuclear Exercise"
http://defensetech.org/2014/09/04/russia-to-hold-major-nuclear-exercise-this-month/

"China Moves 12,000 Troops to Russian Border"
http://www.infowars.com/report-china-moves-12000-troops-to-russian-border/



In mid-November, Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu flew to Beijing for high-level military talks. Shoigu was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Li Keqiang and Defense Minister Chang Wanquan to discuss "current issues of international and regional security and bilateral military and military-technical cooperation" according to the Russian Tass news agency.

No comment.

[FattyMcButterpants]

The $140 billion number was probably transaction volume as around that time there was a lot of blockchain volume as, IIRC there was a large backlog of unconfirmed transactions for a while.

Either that or it was a typo and should have said $14 billion as I think this is ~ what the market cap peaked at during the last bubble.