absolutelyBangkok archive · Business & Economics
Originally published Aug. 22, 2008
35 billion dollars can get you somewhere and at the same time hardly anywhere these days. As there are dollars and dollars. An egg in Zimbabwe recently cost 35 billion dollars. Or take Iran. Some 35 billion dollars in oil money went missing from state coffers. Or the Pentagon’s new fleet of Air Force refueling planes costing that much.
If you furthermore take the depreciation of the U.S. dollar into account, you may end up with a big figure not meaning that much in real terms. The falling U.S. dollar, once the ruling currency of the world, drives down values all over the world. Add inflationary pressure. You don’t want U.S. dollars these days, do you.
But then again, you may not buy that egg or the fleet of planes. And are left with a figure too untold for any mortal’s imagination. 35 billion must therefore stand for something rather metaphoric. Something symbolizing something not made for mortals. Something that can’t be too grand enough to symbolize the sheer unimaginability of what the former is itself symbolizing.
Remember: His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej’s name means “Strength of the Land with Incomparable Power.”
Sources:
Forbes, Bangkok Pundit, New Mandala, The Shark
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