Pop quiz: What’s bigger, a googol or a decillion?

Just another totally normal day of global news. [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, the wide latitude of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [Kim Jung Un’s troops]( expose Putin’s fear. - [Peak beef]( is awfully near. - [This new CEO]( is nothing to cheer. - [A hybrid EV]( that truck lovers steer. Decillion Drama Hmmm, I dunno man, this doesn’t seem right: A Russian court has fined Google $20,604,600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 because it didn’t restore some YouTube accounts linked to pro-Kremlin TV channels. Seriously, how do you even verbalize that dollar amount? I’ll save you from torturing yourself with all the zeros: It’s $20.6 decillion,[1](#footnote-1) a word that I didn’t even know belonged in the numeral system[2](#footnote-2) until today. And, really, why should I have, given that it’s [way, way, way larger]( than the sum of ALL the money in the world. Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, [told]( Business Insider it’s as if the country is “putting a dead person on trial,” since Google[3](#footnote-3) doesn’t even do business in Russia anymore. Clearly, Moscow’s courts are operating in la-la land. And so is Russia’s president, apparently: James Stavridis [says]( Vladimir Putin — a man [with]( enough [nuclear weapons]( to [destroy]( all the money (and people!) in the world — has invited North Korea, of all countries, to join his misguided adventure in Ukraine. The math here also involves a mind-boggling amount of zeroes and dead men: “[Putin] has lost around 200,000 killed, double that number wounded, and at least 500,000 young men fleeing the Russian Federation to avoid the draft: a butcher’s bill of over a million,” writes James. Instead of throwing in the towel, Putin is calling in reinforcements: “At least 10,000 Korean foot soldiers are headed to the battlefields of Ukraine to fight and die in a cause that must be utterly bewildering for them,” James says. “They will be strangers in a strange land indeed, and you can bet Kim Jung Un is holding their families hostage to prevent desertions.” Strangely, the stock market seems nonplussed by such geopolitical turmoil: “Despite war in Europe, renewed instability in the Middle East, worsening trade relations and growing fiscal demands on governments (for defense, the energy transition and aging populations),” Bloomberg’s editorial board [says]( investors “seem decidedly optimistic” about the economy. A wildcard in all this is — you [guessed]( it! — the outcome of the US presidential election. We’re less than a week out from deciding who will lead the nation for the next four years, and “Trump’s shadow looms over Europe,” [writes]( Lionel Laurent. It also looms over China: Shuli Ren [says]( his “possible second term is adding to disagreement over the size of China’s fiscal stimulus and how it should be spent.” Read between the lines, and it’s clear that Xi Jinping is not interested in another trade war. “[Trump’s] hawkish rhetoric on Chinese imports, as well as the [wide latitude]( that the US president enjoys in setting and imposing tariffs, directly threatens Xi’s ultimate passion of transforming China into a high-end manufacturing powerhouse,” Shuli writes. There’s so much uncertainty in the world right now I can’t even begin to tabulate it. The only thing I’m 100% sure about is that Russia will not be getting any decillions from Google — because decillions simply do not exist. Bonus Pre-Election Reading: - Free Read: For Trump, reveling in [bigotry and hostility]( isn’t an act, and he’s certainly not sorry. — Timothy L. O’Brien - In her [closing argument]( to voters, Harris promised to be a president for all. — Nia-Malika Henderson - Religious leaders are trying to [save their faith]( from Trump and Christian nationalists. — Mary Ellen Klas Peak Beef Listen, I’m getting sick of seeing all these recalls. We’ve got salad kits with [contaminated poultry]( cheeseburgers with [E. coli]( and deli meat [with listeria](. What’s next, Costco chicken? [Oh wait](. Maybe we ought to cool it on all the animal products. Or, at the very least, reduce our intake of red meat. I know [some people]( are still obsessed with sirloin — see: this lawsuit accusing Subway of [short-changing customers]( who ordered steak-and-cheese sandwiches — but the risks seem too high to ignore. Plus, David Fickling says [peak beef]( might already be here: “It’s possible that the carbon hoofprint of the global cattle herd is already in decline,” he writes. “From a peak of more than a billion head of cattle in the mid-2000s, stocks at the start of next year will fall to 923 million head, a record low in [USDA] data.” David says it’s welcome news: “Climate doomers and denialists might prefer the grim narrative that we have no way of reining in our emissions, but, in agriculture as in industry, there’s evidence of progress all around us.” Read the whole, [bloody thing](. Telltale Charts Estée Lauder got itself a new CEO — longtime executive [Stephane de La Faverie]( — but Andrea Felsted [is disappointed]( in the choice: “An outside candidate would have been better,” given the scale of the company’s troubles. The makeup company is experiencing a downturn in China as it “faces increased competition from upstarts including Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty and Milk Makeup,” she writes. Skincare also poses a challenge: “Estée’s Clinique, the original dermatological brand, has been eclipsed by L’Oreal’s La Roche Posay and CeraVe.” “PHEVs” — plug-in hybrid vehicles — has gotta be one of the worst acronyms out there. Like, nobody is saying they drive a PHEV! You say you drive an EV or a hybrid. And yet Liam Denning [says]( Americans continued to be charmed by the car model: “The driver gets higher fuel economy and a greenish glow without range anxiety, an important consideration in the US, with its affinity for heavy vehicles and patchy public charging,” he writes. “While PHEVs constitute only about a fifth of the country’s EV market, sales expanded by 21% in the first half of the year compared with just 3% for battery-only EVs.” Further Reading Pressuring a central bank is [not always wrong](. Exhibit A? The Bank of Thailand. — Daniel Moss A new cash-only restaurant highlights our [delicate relationship]( with money. — Howard Chua-Eoan Softbank CEO [Masayoshi Son]( may be the oddest of the oddball billionaires. — Adrian Wooldridge Crypto is along for the “Trump-wins” ride, but [a counter-narrative]( is emerging from economic data. — John Authers Europe’s largest [infrastructure project]( is haunting Rachel Reeves. — Matthew Brooker Labour’s [fiscal blueprint]( raises taxes less than many Britons had feared. — Marcus Ashworth How high is too high for [the minimum wage]( California could give us a clue. — Justin Fox ICYMI Karen Read tells [her story]( with Vanity Fair. You’ll [never guess who]( wants to be in charge of public health. Trump was accused of [sexual misconduct]( for the 28th time. Disney [won the rights]( to broadcast the Grammys starting in 2027. Kickers Happy National [Candy Corn]( Day! This is [your body]( on sugar. Kids in Iowa get to trick-or-treat on Halloween [for the first time]( since 1938. The end of McDonald’s [ice cream machine]( epidemic is near. Handsy Yankees fans are [banned from Game 5]( of the World Series. Notes: Please send sweet treats and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads]( [TikTok]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. [1] This figure might look [off]( depending on [which country]( you're from: Decillion holds a different value in America versus the UK. God forbid we made it simple! [2] After decillion [comes]( undecillion, then there's duodecillion, tredecillion, quatttuor-decillion, quindecillion, sexdecillion, septen-decillion, octodecillion, novemdecillion, vigintillion and centillion, which, [in the US]( at least, has 303 zeros. We'll have a math test tomorrow, so study up. [3] Do you think the court considered the that fact that Google is actually named after the number googol - or 1 followed by 100 zeros? How do you say "ironic" in Russian? Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](