For the sake of the argument we can assume some random corporation with cash on hand is willing to buy out their stakes in their respective companies. Heck, we could probably claim Berkshire and Microsoft as corporations would be willing to buy back the stake they own in them. Or run the experiment without full value, if you felt like it. They could still get a huge chunk of it cashed out.
The interesting part of the question was what happens to the economy when the _currency_ goes away. Saying "I've got 50 billion dollars" is impressive when it's in a corporation, but it's not "real money". And corporate coffers end up playing with a lot of money that's been magnified by banks and credit and such- but all that magnification has to come from actual currency somewhere that the bank has. If that currency is taken out of the system (in a huge chunk), what happens to the economy? Deflation, as money becomes scarcer? Money released from the federal reserve to compensate? There's a lot of power in being able to say "I'm making the economy do X now, neener neener."
The interesting part of the question was what happens to the economy when the _currency_ goes away. Saying "I've got 50 billion dollars" is impressive when it's in a corporation, but it's not "real money". And corporate coffers end up playing with a lot of money that's been magnified by banks and credit and such- but all that magnification has to come from actual currency somewhere that the bank has. If that currency is taken out of the system (in a huge chunk), what happens to the economy? Deflation, as money becomes scarcer? Money released from the federal reserve to compensate? There's a lot of power in being able to say "I'm making the economy do X now, neener neener."
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