Post by: K Frame on July 16, 2008, 06:24:36 AM
Post by: mtnbkr on July 16, 2008, 06:31:50 AM
Chris
Post by: mtnbkr on July 16, 2008, 06:32:11 AM
Chris
Post by: K Frame on July 16, 2008, 06:34:15 AM
Post by: S. Williamson on July 16, 2008, 10:57:00 AM
Post by: HankB on July 16, 2008, 11:29:53 AM
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 . . .
Post by: never_retreat on July 16, 2008, 03:14:17 PM
Post by: The Annoyed Man 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.
Post by: JWarren on July 16, 2008, 03:29:11 PM
-- John
Post by: vaskidmark on July 16, 2008, 03:35:32 PM
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.
stay safe.
skidmark
Post by: Marvin Dao on July 16, 2008, 05:28:36 PM
Post by: Headless Thompson Gunner on July 16, 2008, 08:17:40 PM
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?
Post by: Antibubba 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.
Post by: HankB 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.
Post by: MechAg94 on July 17, 2008, 05:21:20 AM
Post by: HankB on July 17, 2008, 07:05:29 AM
Post by: The Annoyed Man on July 17, 2008, 07:58:10 AM
Post by: K Frame on July 17, 2008, 08:28:35 AM
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.
Post by: Regolith 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.
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?
Post by: Scout26 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.
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.....
Post by: Hutch on July 20, 2008, 04:48:18 AM
Post by: Manedwolf 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.
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.
Post by: Antibubba 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.
Post by: HankB 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.
Post by: K Frame 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.