QUESTION Re- the $20 Trillion Offshore Hoard
I refer, of course, to the hoard described in the UK Guardian here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/21/global-elite-tax-offshore-economy .
They mention 13 trillion British pounds. Converting pounds into US dollars, that's ca. $20 trillion, right?
But I just came across info suggesting that the word, "trillion," means something different in the US than it does in the UK and elsewhere:
"The system used in the U.S. is not as logical as that used in other countries (like Great Britain, France, and Germany). In these other countries, a billion (bi meaning two) has twice as many zeros as a million, and a trillion (tri meaning three) has three times as many zeros as a million, etc." (From http://www.jimloy.com/math/billion.htm .) According to this site, while a trillion in the US has 12 zeros, a trillion in the UK has 18 zeros. Accordingly, 13 trillion pounds would equal 20 quintillion US dollars.
Other sites say the same; while some say that the 18-zero interpretation is now obsolete. Does anyone here happen to know which version was meant in the study referred to in the Guardian?