What hyperinflation looks like.

humorland.wordmess.net...

"If you think that the current economic crisis is something that has never happened in history before, you may be wrong! After the collapse of the agriculture sector in Zimbabwe in 2000, the inflation in that country skyrocketed to 231 million percent a year! Just think about it - 231 000 000%! Unemployment went up to 80% and a third of country’s population left it.

Let`s now have a look at the photos that you may not be able to see anywhere else in the world."

Great photos-you realy can´t make this stuff up.

i have two thoughts prolbabily not the best thoughts too have at a time like this but

a)i need a bigger wallet
b) i need a better/bigger calculator mine needs more digits

yah, but imagine the "coolness' factor of carrying around a briefcase full of cash....

yah, that briefcase can only get you a tank of gas... but you know you'd feel cool...

Lol, only if you carry your briefcase around too long your money would expire, that's right... it expires.

reply to post by nj2day


And utterly poor and worthless too - just like the currency. Hyperinflation is the perfect effect of the cause of bad capitalism. In a way, Marx was right, capitalist have no idea how to deal with a crisis and will always require government intervention until capitalism is replaced.

The children of the Weimar Republic used Deutsch Marks as toy blocks because the currency had no value at all.

I lived in hyperinflation 1993-94. Now when I remember it it's , but than it was.

The only economy which worked were black market and the new class of tycoons emerged (who are now real rullers of my country ).

[edit on 27-10-2008 by Vojvoda]

Wonder if they tipped at the restaurant? I better get my Radio Flyer greased up!

This figure of 80% unemployment strikes me as somewhat bizarre.

I think it should be 100%, logically speaking. Why would anyone work in a stable job if they are going to be paid with (for all intents and purposes) worthless pieces of paper.

Would they not be better off eking out some sort of survival as hunters/ farmers?

reply to post by nj2day


yeah now imagine the coolness when the money in the case is worth far less then the case its self

when if you get mugged they will empty the paper out of the case to make it lighter and aid thier get away


suddenly its not so cool

reply to post by karl 12
I don't think America will become as bad as Zimbabwe but we could be headed for the Weimar republic( without wheel barrows ,everyone here uses debit cards) unless people realize the intelligence of bartering. Comparing America to Zimbabwe is like comparing apples to oranges; Americans are not like Africans.

Fiat currency is destined to become as common as chicken manure. In truth ,chicken manure is more valuable than fiat currency ,because at least, chicken manure makes a good fertilizer. Even if America were to disappear, fiat currency would still become overly abundant.




[edit on 27-10-2008 by eradown]

While fertilizer can be used to grow crops that will support you in the warmer months, money can be burned to keep you warm in the winter. I'd say they're about even!

We will see hyperinflation in the USA.

But I have a question, Does anyone here have an answer?

Do people get weekly raises to keep up with it, how does that work. Even if the inflation is in digital form, how do you get your hands on more dollars if you are just a working stiff with a salarie?


The good part is that old debt is basically wiped out. Owe a mortgage, of half a million? You could buy a loaf of bread, or pay off the mortgage.

This may be the best time in history to go into debt, if you have a stable source of income.

If you have a way to get the money to buy a loaf of bread.

So does anyone here know enough detail to describe how it truly works in a first person view.

[edit on 27-10-2008 by Cyberbian]

reply to post by Cyberbian


Would like to know this as well. Had this same thought of how people worked during times like this a while back. Was it all government jobs, that somehow calculated pay based on inflation?

reply to post by unityemissions


I would also like to know how this works. In the Weinmar Republic, the government ran and operated all the jobs. People were paid in barrels of cash, paid directly from the government.

Hyperinflation in the United States would be a bad, bad thing...as our private sector industries will not be increasing our salaries, but the price of goods/services would increase tremendously.

I need an economist's perspective though about this topic.

reply to post by MOFreemason


So in order for anything to work (at least within a governmental structure) , the government would have to take over all business entities necessary for the function of the U.S. ? Socialism? Or am I missing something?

reply to post by unityemissions


You are absolutely correct. I just found this information from a website on the topic.

www.lewrockwell.com...

Since government intervention and regulation inevitably become even more oppressive during bouts of high inflation, it is important for businesses to sell products with the largest profit margins. As Dr. Swanson points out:

A fact of life in a hyperinflationary economy is the disappearance of products whose controlled price does not cover the cost of production. In Brazil, for example, dairy products such as milk, eggs and cheese became unavailable when the regulated price was set below their production cost.

Likewise, in the United States, high volume products with extensive competition – characteristic of many consumer products – may be the first to disappear should inflation begin to rise, because they tend to have low profit margins.

Fluid pricing becomes an absolute necessity, and prices must change frequently and sharply to accurately reflect the impact of inflation. True costs become increasingly difficult to track, even as the need to do so grows more important."

For Americans, it is hard to imagine products disappearing from the marketplace let alone having to cope with hyperinflation. Just imagine the nightmare Bolivian businessmen went through, in 1985, when inflation hit 50,000% annualized. Upward price adjustments would have to be made by the hour. These upward adjustments accumulate to the point of seeming absurd. For example, under 50,000% inflation, a $25 necktie would cost $12,525 one year later.



[edit on 27-10-2008 by MOFreemason]

reply to post by MOFreemason


While it is virtually impossible just yet to speculate what hyperinflation America will face, several economists on Bloomberg have stated anywhere from 20-45% increase.

If I am not mistaken, they have already inflated our dollars 20 to 40% with the bailouts. Increased the dollars in circulation, without adding value of product to the economy.

You don't see it yet because the dollars are not yet in circulation, since credit is tight and people are holding onto what they have. Now picture what happens when people start to pull the cash out, when they see the price of items increase, while the value of dollars drops rapidly. Every benefit to the economy increases circulation and acts as a multiplyer to the inflated dollars. They start a pattern of anticipation based escalation which becomes a runaway train.

Once people are forced to tap the savings, all hell breaks loose. My wife is in finance, she explained it to me. This is common knowledge in the economic theories.

[edit on 27-10-2008 by Cyberbian]

reply to post by 44soulslayer


I think normally in that situation, they don't get paid in just money, they get paid in whatever that company makes, then they can use those items for barter.

Originally posted by Cyberbian
But I have a question, Does anyone here have an answer?

Do people get weekly raises to keep up with it, how does that work. Even if the inflation is in digital form, how do you get your hands on more dollars if you are just a working stiff with a salarie?

The problem with hyperinflation is that the currency inflates so fast that it's about impossible to keep up with. By the time you'd get a weekly raise, you're already way behind.

Let me see if I can find a link to a news article I read about Zimbabwe as the perfect example of this... basically it discussed how a store got a shipment of bread and was mobbed with people buying it for like $10 billion - only in the time that it took them to get the bread and take it to the cashier, the price had gone up to like $15 billion because the currency is inflating literally that quickly. If I can find the link I'll edit in this post.

EDIT: Here it is!
MSNBC

The word is out: The Spar supermarket has bread at only $7 million a loaf. People rush to the shelf duly marked $7 million, but by the time they reach the till with their hyper-inflated Zimbabwean dollars, the price is up to $25 million.

That equals just 62 U.S. cents, more than a teacher makes in a week. "How can we afford to eat that?" a woman exclaims. Customers leave their loaves at the counter and walk out with their brick-sized bundles of bank notes, angry and disconsolate.

[edit on 10/27/2008 by anachryon]