An US " trillion " is a rest -of -the -world " billion ". We might be talking about the same thing.Taking gouvernment households/budgets could have been the wrong sample.A budget that is made of non-existing money ( debts that are paid back with debts 'till eternity) can't be compared with real money when one thinks about it. GDPs are fixed to something,but not to existing money.A GDP is existing in numbers , not in bank notes.A GDP reflects the entire turnover of a nations economy, not the liquid cash that is free/unburdened with debt.
When the oil price slipped recently from an all time high ( in numbers only!) it was said that Warren Buffet -hope the name is right-stepped out from the speculative oil game.I think that is what was meant by this marxist professor of economics.Money that is useless to those who own it.(Who could consume a value of 50 trillion/billion dollars ?) So it's shifted around causing damage.Like driving a heavy truck over a bad road .This truck will make it , but the road will be damaged for others to come . Resp. not to come . Since it is to badly damaged.