[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

These sorts of articles are annoying because they compress years worth of bad news to look like it all happens in a week.

Here is the Weimar hyperinflation chart. It took five years, and everybody saw it coming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GermanyHyperChart.jpg

Here is the Zimbabwe hyperinflation chart. They had years of bad inflation until 2000, and from there it was a curve much like Germany.

The same with Yugoslavia, except that they also used redenomination, say 10,000 of the old currency is worth 1 of the new currency, so it’s a bit harder to track. And yet it still took years.

So the bottom line is that if you had $10,000 at home, you would likely see such problems coming from a long way off. And it wouldn’t matter if there was a bank holiday, or a credit collapse, etc., because you have your money under your control and can act on it without anyone else’s permission.

[Rusty0604]

Five years is not that long. It starts out as inflation at first, then accelerates into hyperinflation fast. So what would you propose if we started experiencing “mild inflation” and no policies were changed?

[yorkiemom]

Here is the Weimar hyperinflation chart. It took five years, and everybody saw it coming.

Sure, they knew inflation was eating into their money supply. But couldn't do a thing about it. Prices rose faster than income, so all they could do is buy their daily bread. If you're talking about those with money - lots of it - that's another thing - but the general populace had the value of their money wiped out with the cost of items rising quickly. And the government giving platitudes about how things will get better made them just hang on, hoping for the best. As with all financial disasters, nobody had a crystal ball.