Can you remember the olden days when a billion was a large number? In the midst of this immense financial crisis, it is difficult to keep a sense of proportion while trying to follow the attempts of western governments to contain the financial meltdown. When markets, and even individual institutions, valued in trillions are of the verge of collapse, it inspires a sense of wonder (or is it shock?) that such immense sums could be wiped out, regained, then lost again in the course of a few days or even hours.
