oh, if your interested, the IMF is estimated US losses due to the credit crunch to be:

$1000000000000

Thats 1 with 12 zeros at the end...

Oh, we are currently sitting at the $250 Billion mark. Which means we have a way to go yet (if the IMF doesnt add another 0 on the end of their estimate).

The way I'd read it was that any money in bank accounts, loans etc. had three zeros slashed off them. Any money "held" electronically if you will.

Under my bed my £100k would still be there piled up as my £100k. However if it had been a number on a screen which is, to me, what happens when you store it almost electronically and not there in *your* hands, in this case I'd have be able to draw out £100. That was my interpretation of it. Worrying as I never realised a country could actually do that if they so wished.

This regarding debt as a number instead of money that has passed through your hands is many people's downfall. You can get a credit card with £5k limit and use all of it and get shiny things but never see a £.
So, people, like my sister for eg. don't even see it as money that they are responsible for, and a result don't really register with paying it back or borrowing too much. It's just a number on a statement, it was almost never like it was money.
My sister refers to any loan, credit card etc. "when I get my money..."
it's not yours.

I've always said that I wish people taking out mortgages and loans could be shown what the amount that they're borrowing - and what they'll repay - really looks like in cash. I think that would make a lot of people do a double take on what they really can afford / want to spend if they saw it all piled up in suitcases full of notes.

Pooh, they are. It is shown on your mortgage paperwork exactly the cost of the loan in terms of pounds repayed versus borrowed. For example, a recent application I put in came back with £1.75 to repay over the period (assuming certain aspects like the SVR) for every pound borrowed.

If people cant multiply 1.75 by the ammount they borrow, then I suggest they should think twice before leaving the house, never mind getting a mortgage.

Its also a simple case of repayment X repayment period X 12, but I assume most people dont quite fancy the astronomical figure they come to!!!

Sorry pooh, re-read your post, see what you mean. Perhaps they could term it in kilos of 5 pound notes or something!?