# Breaking a Trillion Dollar Bill - Possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620 "2019-01-11T21:27:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/21 "2019-01-12T12:31:14Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Harry S Truman Well, I’d have gone for Everett Dirksen. (a trillion here, a trillion there, …) ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/22 "2019-01-12T17:30:26Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Have you been reading [Mark Twain short stories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Pound_Bank_Note)? No. But I’m gonna! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/23 "2019-01-12T18:13:43Z")
The story was adapted as a [movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyePJXDB-uQ), released in 1954 and starring Gregory Peck. It also influenced the more recent film Trading Places. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/24 "2019-01-12T19:22:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > …Buy Apple. I think you may have hit on the solution here. If you have a trillion dollar bill, you can now buy Apple and get some change back. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/25 "2019-01-12T20:14:55Z")
Can I get change in Euros and agree to a really lousy exchange rate? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/26 "2019-01-12T20:57:02Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I think you may have hit on the solution here. If you have a trillion dollar bill, you can now buy Apple and get some change back. Probably not the best buy. The world seems to have hit Peak Smartphone, so Apple’s future isn’t as bright as it once was. I suggest buying Google or Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/27 "2019-01-12T22:35:08Z")
Yeah, I can make this work. Remember you can get big financial companies involved by paying them a mere $5-$10 billion in electronic money. The value of the stocks in the S&P 500 is about [$21 trillion](http://siblisresearch.com/data/total-market-cap-sp-500/). So you could contract with Vanguard to buy $950 billion of stock and only pay an ~5% penalty or less in terms of anticipated stock appreciation. Could they (and their friends) come up with $40 billion of currency? There is [$1.25 trillion dollars of $100 bill currency in circulation](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CURRVAL100). Total vault cash is [something like $77 billion](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TLVAULT). So maybe $40 billion is pushing it. No matter, try for $5 billion. Or $2 billion. Or hell $1: the action is in the purchase of the stock index. (Detail: actually you would buy a broader based index of stocks, but whatever.) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/28 "2019-01-12T22:55:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Invest it all in a one year CD, and get back about $12,000,000,000 in interest. > Buy Apple. That would be hard. In 2006 (last date available), total large time deposits in the system (and ~$1 trillion would be a large deposit) amounted to $1.4 trillion. So the banking system would have a lot of difficulty creating that large time deposit, even with a big fee. Which is why they would refer you to their investment advisory services department (NOT FDIC insured! :)). [Large Time Deposits - Total (DISCONTINUED) (LTDNS) | FRED | St. Louis Fed](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LTDNS) ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/29 "2019-01-12T23:33:01Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > That would be hard. In 2006 (last date available), total large time deposits in the system (and ~$1 trillion would be a large deposit) amounted to $1.4 trillion. So the banking system would have a lot of difficulty creating that large time deposit, even with a big fee. Which is why they would refer you to their investment advisory services department (NOT FDIC insured! :)). [Large Time Deposits - Total (DISCONTINUED) (LTDNS) | FRED | St. Louis Fed](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LTDNS) In 2008, the [Fed began paying interest on excess reserve deposits](https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/20081006a.htm). While maybe a small bank would not be able to handle such a deposit, I’m sure a large bank would be delighted to take your money, pay you 0.10% interest and then deposit the money with the Fed where they would earn [2.4% interest (as of Jan 11, 2019)](https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/reqresbalances.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/30 "2019-01-12T23:33:37Z")
I would use it to buy some large-scale infrastructure program (like, for example, a nationwide high’speed rail system, or a nationwide energy-efficiency and resilience retrofit) which would conveniently total to $999 billion… leaving me with a billion in change. Ten million one-hundred-dollar bills? I’m fine if we have to call the bank for a special shipment of bills… ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/31 "2019-01-13T04:46:33Z")
I would leave it all as a tip for Elvis, who would agree to let me take his space ship. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/32 "2019-01-13T06:24:53Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > In 2008, the [Fed began paying interest on excess reserve deposits](https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/20081006a.htm). > > While maybe a small bank would not be able to handle such a deposit, I’m sure a large bank would be delighted to take your money, pay you 0.10% interest and then deposit the money with the Fed where they would earn [2.4% interest (as of Jan 11, 2019)](https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/reqresbalances.htm). Agreed, good point. Note that there are 5500 banks with an account at the Fed, so our hero could shop around a lot, presumably for a floating rate CD. Arguably, the Fed might balk at such an arrangement, but I figure anyone with the pull to obtain a one trillion dollar bill could probably smooth things over. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/33 "2019-01-13T14:33:23Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > So whose picture is on the $1 trillion dollar bill? All the presidents. They’re having a party. Jimmy Carter’s passed out on the couch. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/34 "2019-01-14T03:04:43Z")
There’s something interesting about the ideal of a trillion dollar bill, which reminds me of the short story (Steinbeck I think?) _The Pearl_, in which a pearl fisher finds the biggest pearl anyone has ever seen, and normally a bigger pearl is valuable, but this pearl is so big that the rich people decide to just kill him and take it because it’s so much more valuable than a pearl normally is. A single object worth a trillion dollars is kind of like that. All the normal calculuses of why you can trust trustworthy institutions kind of go out the window when the value of what’s being discussed gets high enough. Why can you trust banks to keep things safe that are in their safe deposit boxes? Because the value of their reputation for trustworthiness is greater than the value of stealing one person’s box. Same for bodyguards, and anyone involved in financial transactions. On the other hand, that might not apply to something utterly unique. Presumably in this hypothetical there is only one trillion dollar bill, and it’s more-or-less-publicly-known that you have it, so if it gets stolen there won’t be any way for anyone else to fence it? The only suggestion that really makes sense is buying 999.99 billion dollars worth of stocks from a brokerage, and pay with cash. But would that really work? I don’t know how the internal financials of a big brokerage work, but presumably there’s some limit to how much stock they could purchase all at once… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/35 "2019-01-14T03:57:31Z")
Permanent residence at the 888 square meter Presidential Suite at the Banyan Tree Macau and lifetime membership in the GEG Privilege Club(Diamond Level), and just keep my tab open, if you please. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/36 "2019-01-14T07:14:19Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > A single object worth a trillion dollars is kind of like that. All the normal calculuses of why you can trust trustworthy institutions kind of go out the window when the value of what’s being discussed gets high enough. Why can you trust banks to keep things safe that are in their safe deposit boxes? Because the value of their reputation for trustworthiness is greater than the value of stealing one person’s box. Same for bodyguards, and anyone involved in financial transactions. I can imagine 100 billion dollar bills being minted, followed by a bloodbath. In the OP though, everyone knows who owned and who inherited the one trillion dollar bill. So it would be a really difficult item to fence, probably impossible. > [@](#): > > The only suggestion that really makes sense is buying 999.99 billion dollars worth of stocks from a brokerage, and pay with cash. But would that really work? I don’t know how the internal financials of a big brokerage work, but presumably there’s some limit to how much stock they could purchase all at once… The value of the shares traded on the NY stock exchange on an average day is about $30 billion according to Quora. There are other exchanges to consider, but that gives a rough lowball figure. Someone would have to persuade stockholders to part with a little less than 5% of their shares. Seems hard, but methinks a 20% premium would do the job (quite possibly less), with another 1% paid in commission for the ad campaign, bodyguards, etc. It would take a while to negotiate, but happily it’s all for a good cause (where are we going with this again?). The $0.99999 trillion CD would also work: even if the Fed decides to stop paying interest on excess reserves, there’s no reason why a bank couldn’t charge a negative interest rate. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/37 "2019-01-14T15:59:09Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Someone would have to persuade stockholders to part with a little less than 5% of their shares. Seems hard, but methinks a 20% premium would do the job (quite possibly less), with another 1% paid in commission for the ad campaign, bodyguards, etc. It would take a while to negotiate, but happily it’s all for a good cause (where are we going with this again?). But presumably when I buy stock via a brokerage, the brokerage pays for the stock via some money they have sitting around for that purpose. Which is all well and good when I’m buying 30 shares of AT&T. But it’s hard to imagine any brokerage has $1T in liquid assets sitting around ready to spend. Or does it not work that way? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/38 "2019-01-14T17:04:48Z")
From a logistics view point: Does it have to be a bill? Because there is [semi-serious discussion of a $1 trillion coin](https://www.google.com/search?q=platinum+coin+trillion&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1). Still not sure what you’d do for change, though. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/39 "2019-01-14T17:06:45Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > But presumably when I buy stock via a brokerage, the brokerage pays for the stock via some money they have sitting around for that purpose. Customer assets are (by law) strictly segregated at a broker. A broker can lend money to a customer to buy securities (buying “on margin”) but again this is strictly regulated, and limited to 50% of the value of the securities. > **[Regulation T (Reg T): Definition of Requirement and Example](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/regulationt.asp)** > > Regulation T, or Reg T, governs cash accounts and the amount of credit that broker-dealers can extend to investors for the purchase of securities. (I have no idea how any of this relates to this ridiculous hypothetical.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620/40 "2019-01-16T04:39:23Z")
An excerpt from the _Simpsons_ trillion-dollar-bill episode alluded to upthread: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmjCLPp8LyU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmjCLPp8LyU) > [@Folacin](#): > > From a logistics view point: Does it have to be a bill? Because there is [semi-serious discussion of a $1 trillion coin](https://www.google.com/search?q=platinum+coin+trillion&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1)… I think the verb you’re looking for is “was”: [Trillion-dollar coin - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillion_dollar_coin) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-a-trillion-dollar-bill-possible/827620.md?page=3)