Actually the headline is incorrect.  The number is 500 BILLION. (1/2 TRILLION)  Three orders of magnitude higher.  Lol-copter.  The fact that they are sitting on an amount of CASH that is the size of the ENTIRE NATIONAL DEBT in ~1975.  Think about that!  All that money we are printing... as we know they are closest to the damn faucet.  Cantillon.

This makes me remember something I have been thinking about.

It's lucky for the bankers that "million, billion and trillion" rhyme.  Our brains think of them as analogous to 1, 2 and 3.  What's a trillion?  Just the 3rd "illion" in a row right?  Bigger than a billion, bigger than a million.

Here is something I use to snap myself back into perspective.

A million seconds ago?  Last week.
A billion seconds ago?  Jimbo was in his 30s somewhere.
A trillion seconds ago?  ~35,000 YEARS before recorded history.

They have a half trillion USD in their reserves.  It is both shameful AND embarrassing.