Live data from Hacker News

Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note

cnn.com

11–20 of 71 posts

Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note

#11

Zimbabwe (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.

Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note

#12
post #10
post #6

It's amazing how thoroughly has been completely destroyed in the last decade. What I think most first-world readers miss is that Zimbabwe is not one of those (previously) ultra-poor, undeveloped countries -- it's had a frighteningly long fall to get to where it is now.

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.

Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note

#14
post #8

How can an economy survive with such an inflation? How can you work, knowing that the salary you agreed to at the beginning of the day, is now worth 10 times less

I'd imagine a sort of barter system takes the place of the currency. You could also try to rely on foreign currencies.

Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note

#15

Zimbabwe (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.

I'm pretty sure their government has ... to do with the hyperinflation.

Indeed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reform_in_Zimbabwe

Land reform in Zimbabwe began after the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979 in an effort to more equitably distribute land between ... blacks and the minority-whites who ruled Zimbabwe from 1923 to 1979.

.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reform_in_Zimbabwe#Economi...

The results of the post-2000 land reform have been disastrous for the economy of Zimbabwe. Prior to land redistribution, land-owning farmers, mostly white, had large tracts of land and utilized economies of scale to raise capital, borrow money when necessary, and purchase modern mechanised farm equipment to increase productivity on their land. The reforms broke this land into smaller tracts (thereby destroying the economies of scale) and gave it to former black farmworkers and peasants

Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note

#16
post #5

In August last year, the RBZ slashed ten zeros from the currency. But the zeroes have bounced back with more vigor. That means in before August 2008 these would have been 500,000,000,000,000,000,000 notes. Yikes.

When will they start using scientific notation on the notes? I'd invest a few dollars at whatever exchange rate just to get a hold of some $10^23 notes.

Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note

#17

Zimbabwe (British-relative) national IQ: 66 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_IQ#National_IQ_and_QHC...

That tells you more about the inadequacy and bias of the IQ system in measuring and representing intelligence, than it tells you about African people.

Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note

#19

Zimbabwe (British-relative) national IQ: 66 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_IQ#National_IQ_and_QHC...

That tells you more about the inadequacy and bias of the IQ system in measuring and representing intelligence, than it tells you about African people.

I might be feeding a troll here(2 day old account - http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=opticksversi ) but IQ is more a measure of a nations current economic development than something inherent in the population. See the Flynn Effect - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect

Re: Zimbabwe introduces new $50 billion note

#20

Zimbabwe (British-relative) national IQ: 66 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_IQ#National_IQ_and_QHC...

That tells you more about the inadequacy and bias of the IQ system in measuring and representing intelligence, than it tells you about African people.

the inadequacy and bias of the IQ system in measuring and representing intelligence

Why do you believe there is inadequacy and bias in mental ability testing (the IQ system, as you put it)? Have you read this Citation Classic on the subject?:

http://www.amazon.com/Bias-Mental-Testing-Arthur-Jensen/dp/0...

Post reply on HN