Thinking big?

I think the world needs more Dalton Chiscolm’s.
You see, Mr Chiscolm has that rare ability to think big and even though he comes from the USA – a nation of scale – he is trying to set new standards in the ‘think big’ stakes.  If you haven’t heard, Mr Chiscolm is unhappy with the Bank of America.  He received some poor customer service.  Who would have thought it – a bank failing to live up to expectations?  Anyway, he’s looking for compensation for his troubles and this is where his think big ability really shines through because Mr Chiscolm is looking for compensation in the sum of $1,784 billion, trillion!
For the non mathematicians out there that’s 1784 followed by 24 zeros – mind boggling stuff.
Another group thinking big at the moment is the Bank of England.  Unfortunately this is not in the area of growth as the UK technically remains in recession following the dismal GDP figures which unexpectedly demonstrated a sixth quarter of shrinkage of the economy.  Since Germany and France technically came out of recession six months ago, it puts the relative performance of the UK and it’s reliance on the service sector in stark comparison.  This is the worst performance since records began in 1950 – six consecutive quarters of GDP contraction.  So why would the Bank of England need to think big in such a dire economic situation?  Quantative Easing.
In simple terms this is the policy of the Bank of England printing money and using it to buy bonds from banks and other companies to help stimulate the economy.  The ₤175 billion set aside for QE will have been used up by the end of this week and therefore the debate will be around how much more will be needed or even be effective in dragging the UK economy out of this crisis.
I’m glad I’m not accountable for making some of these decisions.  The scale of some of these national economic figures is quite frightening.  However, I think many would like to have some confidence in the people making those decisions.  The fact that this contraction was a surprise to everyone is a little concerning and really asks me to wonder about the financial models the so called experts expect us to trust.  I guess if the worst came to the worst perhaps Mr Chiscolm might be charitable and if he wins his record compensation claim he might throw a couple of billion at the UK for old times sake.
Of course there is one major flaw with Mr Chiscolm’s claim and that is that there simply isn’t that much money in the world… unless they print some more.