Wlodek, a rural farmer, has decided that might be safer not keeping his money under the mattress. So he takes his horse and cart and goes off to the nearest town to talk to the bank.
"Right," says Wlodek, "I want to make sure my 50 zlotys are safe. Like, what happens if someone robs you and takes everything in your vault?"
"Oh, don't worry about that!" says the smooth bank manager. "The main branch in the city would cover you!"
"Okay," says Wlodek. "But suppose the whole bank went bust? I know these things happen."
"Well," says the bank manager. "People have a right to be worried, of course. So that you can feel completely secure, the Polish Central Bank still guarantees your savings."
"But suppose the Polish Central Bank ran out of money?" asks Wlodek. "What would happen then?"
"This is very hypothetical," says the bank manager. "But if it ever happened, we have a treaty with the Soviet Union. They would still make sure you weren't out of pocket."
"But what if the Soviet Union went bust?" asks Wlodek stubbornly.
The bank manager sighs. "Look," he says. "Wouldn't that be worth 50 zlotys?"
This joke is well-known in Germany (http://www.bankmitarbeiter.de/html/bankerwitze.html at the bottom) - you have to know that in Germany jokes about the politicians (in particular the Federal Government, but increasingly commonly also the EU) are what jokes about lawyers are in the US:
> [E]ine ältere Dame in einer Bank [will] ein Sparbuch eröffnen und 1.000,- EUR einzahlen. Dame: "Ist mein Geld bei ihnen auch sicher ? Banker: "Klar doch !" Dame: "Und was ist, wenn Sie Pleite machen ?" Banker: "Dann kommt die Landeszentralbank auf !" Dame: "Und was, wenn die Pleite macht ?" Banker: "Dann kommt die Bundesbank auf !" Dame: "Und wenn auch die Pleite macht ?" Banker: "Dann tritt die Bundesregierung zurück, und das sollte Ihnen nun wirklich die 1.000,- EUR wert sein.
My rough not word-for-word translation:
An old lady goes to a bank to open a savings book in which she wants to deposit EUR 1,000. Lay: "My money is really safe at you". Banker: "Of course!". Lady: "And what if you go bust?". Banker: "Then the Federal State Central Bank accounts for it!". Lady: "And what if the Federal State Central Bank goes bust?". Banker: "Then the German Central Bank accounts for it.". Lady: "And when it goes bust, too?". Banker: "Then the Federal Government has to recede - and this is surely worth EUR 1,000.".
Nowadays there also exists a variant of the joke where Angela Merkel is explicitly mentioned in the final line. :-)
Also note in the German version the word "Banker" is used (pronounced the same as in English) - in opposite to its English analogue in German this word has a derogatory connotation (though not as much as in former days). The polite (though a little outdated) German word for "banker" is "Bankier" (though spelled rather similarly as "Banker", it is pronounced differently). I could say that there are reasons why it has become a little uncommon (making it a little outdated) to use the polite German word "Bankier" anymore. ;-)
"Right," says Wlodek, "I want to make sure my 50 zlotys are safe. Like, what happens if someone robs you and takes everything in your vault?"
"Oh, don't worry about that!" says the smooth bank manager. "The main branch in the city would cover you!"
"Okay," says Wlodek. "But suppose the whole bank went bust? I know these things happen."
"Well," says the bank manager. "People have a right to be worried, of course. So that you can feel completely secure, the Polish Central Bank still guarantees your savings."
"But suppose the Polish Central Bank ran out of money?" asks Wlodek. "What would happen then?"
"This is very hypothetical," says the bank manager. "But if it ever happened, we have a treaty with the Soviet Union. They would still make sure you weren't out of pocket."
"But what if the Soviet Union went bust?" asks Wlodek stubbornly.
The bank manager sighs. "Look," he says. "Wouldn't that be worth 50 zlotys?"