We use it every day! Some of us have it, others don’t, but we are all very keenly aware of how hard it is to earn it. Money! It makes the world go around, and it can make your head spin. Sometimes for quite unexpected reasons, though! Check out these odd factoids about your hard-earned dosh.

One of the weirdest things about money (at least fiduciary kind) is its cost to make. Believe it or not, but the smallest coins cost relatively the most to make. A single American cent costs more than twice its amount to be made (2.41 cents per US penny), and it takes around 1/10 of a dollar’s value – 5.6 cents – to make the iconic bill (which is, surprisingly, not made out of paper, but cotton and linen!). The higher the denomination, the less it costs to make, though, as it costs just 13 cents to make USD 100. So if you have lots of coins lying around, at least it cost a small fortune to make!

 

 

Speaking of fortune, there is more Monopoly money being made than actual dollars per annum. About 30 bln worth of Monopoly bucks are made annually, but only around USD 1 bln actual US dollars are printed by the US Mint over the same period. There is in fact more pretend money than real money globally.

 

 

But would it surprise you to also learn that there is vastly more virtual money than physical? Only 8% of global currency exists in paper or coin, while a whopping 92% is completely electronic or digital. That combined with the fact that the world owes collectively a cool USD 200 trn in debt, but only USD 81 trn exists in cash and bank deposits, means that there is a very large sum of completely hypothetical money that has no other existence than purely as possible future repayment of debt. And we have moved so far away from physical monetary units to virtual or digital currency (Bitcoin, anyone?) that even this unrealized debt has very little chance to become material wealth.

Kinda makes one hope banks would consider making our outstanding credit immaterial as well, doesn’t it?

 

VOCABULARY

keenly aware of sth – w pełni świadomy czegoś
to make the world go around – sprawiać, że ziemia się kręci
to make one’s head spin – zawrócić komuś w głowie
odd – dziwny
factoid – ciekawy fakt, ciekawostka
hard-earned – ciężko zarobiony (o pieniądzu)
dosh – kasa, szmal (UK)
fiduciary – fiducjarny (o papierowym itp. pieniądzu)
relatively – stosunkowo
US penny – inaczej cent (UK)
iconic – kultowy
bill – tu: banknot
surprisingly – co dziwne/zadziwiające
linen – len
denomination – tu: nominał
to have sth lying around – mieć czegoś pełno po kątach
small fortune – mała fortunka, niezła fortuna
per annum – rocznie
X worth of Y – Y o łącznej wartości X
Monopoly bucks – dolce w Monopolu (grze)
annually – rocznie
mint – mennica
pretend – udawany, nieprawdziwy
vastly – ogromnie
currency – waluta
whopping – gigantyczny
combined with sth – w połączeniu z czymś
to owe – być winnym, dłużnym
collectively – łącznie
a cool X – okrągły X (o wielkiej sumie)
in debt – w postaci zadłużenia
bank deposits – depozyty bankowe
existence – istnienie
repayment – spłata (długu)
to move away from sth – odejść od czegoś (na rzecz czegoś)
monetary unit – jednostka monetarna, pieniądz
unrealized – niezrealizowany
wealth – bogactwo
kinda… (kind of…) – raczej, chyba (pot., slang.)
to consider – rozważyć
outstanding – niespłacony, zaległy
immaterial – niematerialny, nieistotny

by Prochor Aniszczuk

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