Author Topic: Think our inflation rate is bad?  (Read 5461 times)

K Frame

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Think our inflation rate is bad?
« on: July 16, 2008, 06:24:36 AM »
Article that just came across Reuters says Zimbabwe's inflation rate has topped 2 million percent a year...
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mtnbkr

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2008, 06:31:50 AM »
Their currency is worth more as fuel for the stove than as a medium of exchange.

Chris

mtnbkr

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2008, 06:32:11 AM »
BTW, congrats, you just hit 10k posts.  Loser. Wink

Chris

K Frame

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2008, 06:34:15 AM »
I hang out with you, so I'd have to say Uber Loser.
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S. Williamson

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2008, 10:57:00 AM »
Ooo!  self-pwnage!
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HankB

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2008, 11:29:53 AM »
I just read that as of a few days ago, a butternut squash cost Z$30,000,000,000 in a Zimbabwe market . . . that's thirty billion dollars for a single vegetable.

And remember, a couple of years ago, Zimbabwe chopped three zeros off their currency, making the price more like thirty trillion dollars.

Makes the old Weimar Republic look good . . .
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never_retreat

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2008, 03:14:17 PM »
So there money is worth more as recycled paper?
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The Annoyed Man

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2008, 03:19:29 PM »
So there money is worth more as recycled paper?
It's useful as toilet paper, and not much more.

JWarren

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2008, 03:29:11 PM »
I came across this a few weeks ago... seems to fit. (I'll leave it as a thumbnail for the benefit of the thread.)


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vaskidmark

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #9 on: July 16, 2008, 03:35:32 PM »
My grandfather made a business trip to Germany about 1931 or 1932.  He had a greenback in his wallet as he was going thru the process of boarding a ship to return to the States.  Long story shortened - the Germans confiscated his hard money and gave him Deutshmarks.

Enough to fill up a steamer trunk!

When he got home he papered my father's and my uncle's rooms with the stuff, and still had piles of paper left over.  Grandma made him strip the stuff off the walls after everybody in the family, the city, and the next five counties over had come to see the rooms and talk about it.

I cannot remember precisely, but the story was it was either a $10 or $20 that was converted into funny money.

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Marvin Dao

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #10 on: July 16, 2008, 05:28:36 PM »
Apparently it can get worse. They'll run out of paper to print money with in about two weeks, can no longer get spare parts for their money printing machines, and their license for the money designing software is about to expire... One thing is constant though. Inflation is still rising.

Headless Thompson Gunner

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #11 on: July 16, 2008, 08:17:40 PM »
Yeah, I've sometimes wondered about the logistics of hyperinflated currency.  If the money isn't worth the paper it's printed on, then where do they get the money to buy the paper it's printed on?

Think about it.  Printing money is fairly expensive.  You need special paper, special ink, special printing presses, trained labor, distribution, and a whole lot else.  Yet the final product isn't worth anything.  You print a new stack of currency, but it isn't valuable enough to buy the supplies you'll need to print the next stack of currency.  Wouldn't you expect the government to eventually lose the race, to fall behind its own inflated currency, and find itself unable to afford the costs of printing new money?  And at that point, wouldn't the printing, and thus the inflation, cease?

Burning currency for heat may be cheaper than burning wood, but surely there are more resources expended to produce currency than to produce firewood.  How can it be that the currency is worth less?

Antibubba

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #12 on: July 16, 2008, 08:18:19 PM »
Quote
I just read that as of a few days ago, a butternut squash cost Z$30,000,000,000 in a Zimbabwe market . . . that's thirty billion dollars for a single vegetable.

This assumes a butternut squash can be found.  Zimbabwe used to be the granary of Africa, but after Mugabe forced the white farmers off their lands to give it to squatters who don't know squat about farming, food is scarce.  Meat is a memory for most people.

If there is anyplace in the world that practically begs for a coup, it's Zimbabwe.
If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic.

HankB

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #13 on: July 17, 2008, 03:24:36 AM »
Quote
I just read that as of a few days ago, a butternut squash cost Z$30,000,000,000 in a Zimbabwe market . . . that's thirty billion dollars for a single vegetable.

This assumes a butternut squash can be found.  Zimbabwe used to be the granary of Africa, but after Mugabe forced the white farmers off their lands to give it to squatters who don't know squat about farming, food is scarce.  Meat is a memory for most people.

If there is anyplace in the world that practically begs for a coup, it's Zimbabwe.
But at least - thanks in large part to Jimmy Carter - they do have "majority rule" in Zimbabwe, unlike that horrid hellhole which proceeded it, Rhodesia.  rolleyes
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MechAg94

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #14 on: July 17, 2008, 05:21:20 AM »
Actually I thought they no longer had majority rule in Zimbabwe.  Didn't Mugabe just lose the recent election and then worked at killing the other candidate and his supporters? 
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HankB

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #15 on: July 17, 2008, 07:05:29 AM »
"Majority rule" in Africa means the ruler is from the same demographic as most Africans - i.e., he's black.
Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

The Annoyed Man

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #16 on: July 17, 2008, 07:58:10 AM »
But I thought the great and wise Mugabe had banned inflation? How could this ever happen? rolleyes

K Frame

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #17 on: July 17, 2008, 08:28:35 AM »
Well, something appears to be wrong in Zimbabwe...

The last exchange rate I could find for the Zimbabwean dollar was 25,439Z to $1 US.

At that rate a butternut squash costs well over $1 million US.

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Regolith

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #18 on: July 17, 2008, 02:24:02 PM »
Well, something appears to be wrong in Zimbabwe...

The last exchange rate I could find for the Zimbabwean dollar was 25,439Z to $1 US.

At that rate a butternut squash costs well over $1 million US.



Since when did butternut squash cost $39?
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Scout26

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #19 on: July 17, 2008, 04:13:31 PM »
Well, something appears to be wrong in Zimbabwe...

The last exchange rate I could find for the Zimbabwean dollar was 25,439Z to $1 US.

At that rate a butternut squash costs well over $1 million US.



Since when did butternut squash cost $39?

When it was a *ahem* "interesting shape" and was sold on E-bay.....
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Hutch

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #20 on: July 20, 2008, 04:48:18 AM »
Majority rule in Africa seems to be "One man, one vote... one time"
"My limited experience does not permit me to appreciate the unquestionable wisdom of your decision"

Seems like every day, I'm forced to add to the list of people who can just kiss my hairy ass.

Manedwolf

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #21 on: July 20, 2008, 05:03:38 AM »
Well, something appears to be wrong in Zimbabwe...

The last exchange rate I could find for the Zimbabwean dollar was 25,439Z to $1 US.

At that rate a butternut squash costs well over $1 million US.

It's much worse than that now. BBC was just saying that it costs 2,000,000,000 Z for a loaf of bread...about $1 US. Two BILLION. That a bus ride and lunch is about a trillion dollars, and so shopkeepers have been just putting B, T, and Q on shelves.

Antibubba

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #22 on: July 20, 2008, 02:40:28 PM »
Quote
"Majority rule" in Africa means the ruler is from the same demographic as most Africans - i.e., he's black.

Majority rule in Africa is tribal, not racial.
If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic.

HankB

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #23 on: July 20, 2008, 05:19:17 PM »
. . .The last exchange rate I could find for the Zimbabwean dollar was 25,439Z to $1 US.
That's probably about when they stopped computing exchange rates.
Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

K Frame

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Re: Think our inflation rate is bad?
« Reply #24 on: July 20, 2008, 07:59:18 PM »
. . .The last exchange rate I could find for the Zimbabwean dollar was 25,439Z to $1 US.
That's probably about when they stopped computing exchange rates.

Actually, thinking about it some more, that's the official international currency exchange rate.

Often those have absolutely nothing to do with the reality of economic conditions inside of a country.
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