Zimbabwe dollar sheds 12 zeros

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Twelve zeroes o_O
now 1 billion = 1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7865259.stm

Does this mean that inflation is under control over there?

Quite the contrary.

So it's just another case of Mugabe being an idiot?

So, in other words, he's just the same as always?
Seriously, that prick needs a bullet to his head. That's the way to remove him from power!
Otherwise, he just keeps on rigging those elections!

I can see it now...

Deja Vu all over again!

No Tim Tex, what this means is that the government has devalued the dollar to the point where they have taken off 12 0's. This means that inflation is wilder than every there.

Getting an inflation of this extent under control needs quite different measurements; it would need a reorganization of the way money is created by the central bank.

The classic example is the German currency reform of November 1923, when inflation in Germany was quite in the region of today's Zimbabwe. The very first step was for a new government to stop all political payments (Streseman became chancellor in August 1923 and stopped the so-called "Ruhrkampf"), the next step was to found a new central bank ("Rentenbank"), which was only allow to issue currency up to certain amount which was related formally via a government mortgage on all German real estates and industrial investments to real economy. Therefore this new central bank could not be abused by the government any longer to "pay" for the government with the printing press. Later in 1924 this rules were slightly altered, so that some bond and letter of exchange could be used to backup the issuing of money, but in a quite restricted manner.

So the the amount of money of this new currency was related to the real production and value of gods on the market. This worked very well till 1933, when Hitler started to use the printing press again for financing his preparations to war.

At most Mugabe simply created the illusion of deflation, an illusion which will vanish very quickly

Well, if you can shed 12 zeroes to make 1 billion = 1, then it is probably time to shed 12 zeroes because a million dollars would be 1 quadrillion. That would be tedious.

The problem is that Mugabe must give up his control of the central bank to stop the inflation and must start to set-up a budget, which is not based on the printing press - and such measurements are not dictator-like.

once again a country suffers because of the governemnt making a drastic decision, when will it stop?

the problem is that this could happen anywhere as long as the government or people in power choose it, with banks on the verge of collapse some people will want to withdraw everything and yet the risks are the same.

keep money in the bank and then they shut down, you loose everything.
withdraw money and then the currency changes, you still loose everything!

how come it's always the people that suffer and never those that allowed the country to become the cesspit it is today?

I'm no fan of that man either, but I must tell you this - Most Africans LOVE HIM!

I know quite a few Tanzanian guys. I asked them about what they feel regarding Mugabe. And they all told me that he's a great man, like how Charles Taylor was. They completely support him, and assert that Morgan Tsvangirai is a western puppet. They believe everything Mugabe says - that all of Zimbabwe's problems are caused by the west. Now, I haven't met with people from Zimbabwe, till date. However, my friend's mother worked for UNICEF, and spent a whole year in Zimbabwe. My friend told me that although 50% of Zimbabwe is poor, most of the poor love Mugabe. He's a knight in shining armour, as far as they are concerned.

Did you ever think that most Germans hated Hitler prior to his defeat? They LOVED him. He was their saviour.

It's no different from what Barrack Obama is to America and most black people, except a few like James David Manning.

Unfortunately, good cannot defeat this kind of evil, it takes a meaner kind of evil, and then what are you left with?

But having said that, I do agree with the bullet solution.