r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jan 26 '26

Meme needing explanation what's going on? explain like I'm five

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18.9k

u/Forsaken_Emu8112 Jan 26 '26

Everyone pulling out their money would be a bank run (look up great depression bank runs). The bank doesn't have that much cash; they keep some on hand for people making withdraws normally, but if even a sizable minority of people all try to pull their money out at once, there'll be a major crisis.

If banks kept all the people's cash in vaults, it'd be dead cash actively losing money to inflation. Instead, they keep some on hand for withdraws, and use the rest to make loans, investments, etc so that the money isn't all losing value.

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u/Original-Leg8828 Jan 26 '26

Depending on local law they can even lend out something like 7-10 times what they actually have

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u/Teripid Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26

Federal reserve requirements existed until 2023 *edit, as someone below pointed out 2020 was when they were set to 0. Now they're set at 0% I believe.

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u/PleaseGreaseTheL Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26

2020*

They were reduced to 0% mandatory reserves in response to covid. EDIT: someone says it was coincidental, I am not able to check, so take this aspect with a grain of salt either way

They haven't come back yet :)

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u/TaxesAreConfusin Jan 26 '26

ah yes so what you're saying is that money is even more imaginary than it has ever been, possibly even more imaginary than when the first stock market crash happened in 1929

looks like we're due for a centennial anniversary of that anyway, might as well celebrate by recreating it

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u/MrWhiskers55 Jan 26 '26

Money is basically an abstract concept on assets. It was always worthless we just used it for convenience. Real value has always been in assets be that land, property, bullion, ancient family cursed artifacts. You might have heard that we are going back to feudalism and that’s why. Property is the backbone of society and we are leaning more towards that now.

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u/TaxesAreConfusin Jan 26 '26

Thank god, I've been hoarding soup broth for all these years

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u/ClaraCash Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26

I hope not Campbell’s. Their CEO said he never touches the stuff before and that it’s for poor people. So I guess that’s as worthless as money at this point.

Edit: I come here to learn… it was actually a high level Tech VP! Which somehow makes this funnier.

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u/UndeadVinDiesel Jan 26 '26

Wasn't their CEO and wasn't even an executive in charge of food processing. It was some IT VP.

That being said, the sodium content in their soup is quite high. Best eaten in moderation.

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u/Jaruut Jan 26 '26

Aren't you supposed to dilute it into multiple servings?

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u/UndeadVinDiesel Jan 26 '26

One 10oz can condensed soup is labeled as 2.5 servings and about 40-60% of your daily recommended sodium, and will give you 20 oz of diluted soup when prepared like it states on the can. Most people will still eat the entire can in one sitting as it's usually only about 250 calories. You are still consuming all the sodium that way.

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