Wow. I can see all the steps in the fractional reserve thingie, and it does indeed add up... but my sleep-starved neurons can't seem to wrap that "I understand" feeling around it.

(This is not your fault. You're the first person who has convinced me that the bank-loaning really did create money that wasn't there. I just have high expectations for what "I understand" should feel like - it is different from "I can recite the steps of the argument and arrive at the conclusion", which is where I'm at now - and apparently I've voided the warranty on that part of my brain.)