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Inflation Could Be Worse

August 20th, 2008 at 04:59 pm

Zimbabwe "inflation rocketed to a staggering 11 million percent in June, the highest in the world, from 2.2 million in May, and chronic food, fuel and foreign currency shortages are worsening.

But many economists believe the figure is higher still and it has little meaning for Zimbabweans, who find that a loaf of bread costs almost five times more than it did a month ago -- if it can be found for sale."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSLJ72598820080819?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Posted in Random Thoughts | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Inflation Could Be Worse”

  1. M E 2 Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 05:08 pm 1219252082
    1219252082



    How many of us who post/lurk here actually live in Zimbabwe?

    Show of hands please

    @@

  2. Broken Arrow Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 05:18 pm 1219252738
    1219252738

    Ah, good ole Mugabe and his superb handling of Zimbabwe's economic policies.

  3. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 05:23 pm 1219253023
    1219253023

    Live in Zimbabwe or not, it is informative to understand how an economy can be totally chaotic and wreak havoc on the lives of everyone but the top crooks who have managed to secure "their own" money out of the country. I personally know people who have lived through 300% inflation in another country than Zimbabwe. To a previously middle class family, it meant that they sank within one month into frightful effective poverty with the violence of desperation all around them. They ended up using their very household goods in order to "pay" a driver who had access to gasoline to get them out of the country. They even turned over their car to him-- Their car which they could not operate because they could not buy fuel.

    You know, in Zimbabwe, farmers are not even bringing food to market because it does not pay enough to cover their constantly rising expenses. In our own country, we have such a sophisticated yet vulnerable system of distribution off food, that a similar thing could happen to us. Others have even noted recently in their blogs, how they were seeing grocery stores apparently dial-back on the "just in time deliveries" that have kept US stores constantly topped off with a good supply of food and other consumables. And all we had causing that was an increase in fuel prices. We did not have the rest of the economy in total shambles as does Zimbabwe, thank goodness. The question is, what would it take to cause 15%, 20% inflation here? What would we all do in the face of effectively having our income cut by 1/5?

  4. disneysteve Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 09:44 pm 1219268697
    1219268697

    I visited Israel in 1985 during a period of runaway inflation. I don't know what the % was but we were advised to only change enough money each morning for what we'd need that day because our dollars would be worth more the next morning but any shekels we had left would be worth less. For 2 weeks, I watched the shekels to the dollar rate climb every single day. If I remember correctly, it was about 900:1 when we arrived and 1,500:1 when we left.

  5. Uncommonadvice Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 09:49 pm 1219268965
    1219268965

    How did it get so bad there?

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