Stoking the furnace with bills, Weimar Germany.
Posted on 07/19/2008 12:35:38 PM PDT by Abathar
HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's troubled central bank introduced new $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy.
The new bills officially come into circulation Monday, although they were already on the foreign currency dealers market Saturday.
As high as they are, though, the new bills still aren't enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can only buy four oranges.
The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar
Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented economic meltdown since it gained independence in 1980, with the official inflation rate now at 2.2 million percent.
Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, said the new notes are for "the convenience of the banking public and corporate sector" in light of price hikes.
"The RBZ has noted with concern the unjustifiable and incessant general increases in prices of goods and services. It is therefore appealing to the business community to follow ethical business practices as well as take an interest in the plight of the general public," Gono said in a statement dated Friday.
In January, the government issued bills in denominations of $1 million, $5 million, and $10 million -- and in May, it issued bills from $25 million and $50 million up to $25 billion and $50 billion.
The new bills are actually bearer checks and have an expiration date of December 31. Zimbabwe has not had formal currency since the introduction of bearer checks as a temporary measure in 2003.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
On the bright side the people there are getting really good at figuring large numbers in their head though...
(Dave Chappelle) - “I’M RICH, BEE-YOTCH!”
Why don’t they just drop the zeros?
This is where Dem/Lib/Socialist/Commie leadership will get us.
No, you need a billion dollars to buy that penny candy.
Something is wrong there...
"Go to jail! Do not pass GO, do not collect $2T trillion dollars."
LOL!
Holy cow, last week I think $1 US Dollar = $28 Billion Zimbabwe Dollars! It's freefalling into a bottomless pit.
Troubled?
The "economy" in Zimbabwe has collapsed.
That's um, "troubled"?
Imagine if Mugabe were a white male, instead of the Saintly Revolutionary Who Overthrew the Evil Ian Smith.
The term for monetary collapse would be quite a bit harsher.
But not when you're a tribalist thug. Then you get a pass from all the filth who trumpeted your ascendancy 25 years ago as The Second Coming and the End of Injustice.
Far be it from them to admit their monstrous mistake.
Your right - the change in value certainly isn't because the US dollar has risen in value!!
"Ok then, we hold the world ransom for 100 Billion dollars!"
Comin' up next, the Avogadro Note: 6.022 * 10^23 Zimbabwe dollars = 1 US dime.
Socialism works!
Everyone in Zimbabwe is a Billionaire!
Well the first thing you know ol’ Mogufu’s a billionaire...
Alas, thanks to Greenspan(shorting the CC stocks) and now Bernanke (Helicopter Ben)we are heading in the same direction...
They've bin there, done that..
With inflation like that, money and savings have no value. Thus all become equally poor and miserable (except the ruling elite). Marxism in action.
They still contract a European company to produce the notes using quality paper and lithography. Might be interesting to squirrel one away just for future collector value. You don’t see notes issued in denominations of 10^11 everyday.
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