“You have a dog, and I have a cat. We agree that they are each worth a billion dollars. You sell me the dog for a billion, and I sell you the cat for a billion. Now we are no longer pet owners, but Icelandic banks, with a billion dollars in new assets.”
An unspecified fund manager in Michael Lewis’ outstanding piece “Wall Street on the Tundra”. Well worth a read/re-read in the current news cycle.