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Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note
41–50 of 71 posts
Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note
#42The tragedy of Zimbabwe is that a functioning, wealth-creating capitalist system that was evolving towards equal rights for blacks over time was sacrificed to satisfy the ego of a strong man, who proceeded to wipe out every trace of capitalism and rule of law, and replaced it with the law of the jungle. Zimbabwe's whites mostly left, so it is the black population that paid the biggest most terrible price. Naipaul has…
Are you sure you are not white? Or at least,...antipc?
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=411138
And you and I both know who he really is, don't we, longtimer?
[EDIT: Rechecked your facebook page. Yep, still white.]
Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note
#43Read it very carefully. This is USA in the future. 800 bilion bail-out - printed, over 1 trillion budget deficit - printed, another 800 billion bail out - printed. Only 5% of all the US dollars ever created is in circulation in the US. Rest of them are deposited in banks of the rest of the world as I.O.U.s... treasuries (us gov debt) that was bought by foreigners. The very moment foreigners realize that Treasuries have negative R.O.I. - as it will become true once treasuries bubble bursts and Fed starts printing to pay them off... well, this is how the whole Communistic Block collapsed in matter of months - hyperinflation due to inability of repaying debts. The exactly same thing will happen with the USA. Nation with no production, no savings and the biggest debt in the history of the man-kind... this country is going bankrupt. Kaput!
Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Getting rid of Mugabe and reinstating private property rights would go a long way in the right direction.
It'd be a start, but sadly just that. That's what's truly sad. The economic destruction has been so thorough, the wave of emigration away so massive, that Zimbabwe will need a generation or two to recover.
I get the impression a lot of the emigration is pretty permanent. Which means they may never recover, in the sense of recovering the lead they formerly held over other countries in the region.
Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note
#45How long until they have a trillion dollar bill like the one Castro stole from Homer?
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Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note
#46Zimbabwe (British-relative) national IQ: 66 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_IQ#National_IQ_and_QHC...
Zimbabwe president: Robert Mugabe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe I'm pretty sure their government has much more to do with the hyperinflation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man
Not really a theory in the best repute.
Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd imagine a sort of barter system takes the place of the currency. You could also try to rely on foreign currencies.
They actively crack down on those using foreign currency, it's actually illegal to use foreign currency for transactions there - although of course everyone does and there is a massive black market for this. Mugabe also tried to fix the price of common goods - e.g. Bread, Milk, etc.
Edit: Hmm - Apparently this has changed and they allow foreign currency trading now.
Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note
#48The interesting thing is that there is probably considerable potential for the population of Zimbabwe to earn foreign hard currency by selling bank notes of this kind of denomination (for example, on eBay, if possible) simply because so many Westerners would find it incredibly novel to obtain one, just for the sheer amazement factor.
It's an economic opportunity to take advantage of just how bewildering the situation is.
Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note
#49The world badly needs a hard currency that is independent of political control.
Keep dreaming..
Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, it used to be considered a model African country, with the highest increases in standard of living year/year of any country in the world. Robert Mugabe destroyed Zimbabwe. Wikipedia has some really excellent further reading on Mugabe and Zimbabwe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Zimbabwe
IIRC, before Land Reform Zimbabwe was the only African country with a net surplus of food. Zim used to be called the bread basket of Africa. Putting aside the ideology of Land Reform (that's a whole other minefield of a topic), the execution and economic policies have been woeful. Another post quoted one issue which was that large tracts of land were broken up, which broke economies of scale. However, it was flawed i…
> The original owners of the land were highly captialised.
Err... not to dispute the rest of what you say, which is accurate, but the original owners? I realize you can play that game a long way back in history, but still...