Zimbabwe Drops 10 Zeros From Inflated Currency
Angus Shaw, AP, July 30, 2008
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Zimbabwe announced Wednesday that it is knocking 10 zeros off its hyper-inflated currency—a move that turns 10 billion dollars into one.
President Robert Mugabe threatened a state of emergency if businesses profiteer from the country’s economic crisis, a move that could give him even more sweeping powers to punish opponents in the event that political power-sharing talks fail.
“Entrepreneurs across the board, don’t drive us further,” Mugabe warned in a nationally televised address after the currency announcement. “If you drive us even more, we will impose emergency measures. . . . They can be tough rules.”
{snip}
Central Bank Gov. Gideon Gono announced he was dropping 10 zeros from Zimbabwe’s currency, effective Friday. The move comes a week after the issue of a 100 billion-dollar note—still not enough to buy a loaf of bread.
Gono said the new money would be launched with 500-dollar bills. He also said he was reintroducing coins, which have been obsolete for years, and told people to dig out their old ones.
{snip}
Inflation, the highest in the world, is officially running at 2.2 million percent in Zimbabwe but independent economists say it is closer to 12.5 million percent.
Economist John Robertson said the new bills would soon be worthless since the rate of inflation continues to skyrocket. What costs $1 at the beginning of the month can cost $20 by month’s end, he said.
“This is attending only to the symptoms of the problem. The real problem is the scarcity of everything driving up the prices. . . . The government has not only caused the scarcities but damaged our ability to fix the problem.”
At the root, he said, is the damage to the farming sector, along with government raids on the state pension fund and foreign currency bank accounts of businesses.
{snip}
(Posted on July 31, 2008)
Comments
Big deal. At the current inflation rate (independent economists’ version), five of those zeroes will be back by this time next year.
Posted by Strider at 7:16 PM on July 31
“This is attending only to the symptoms of the problem. The real problem is the scarcity of everything driving up the prices… . The government has not only caused the scarcities but damaged our ability to fix the problem.”
The only scarcity that’s important here is the scarcity of whites.
Posted by HideouslyWhite at 7:38 PM on July 31
Why have whites have been unable to secure territory of their own in Africa?
Posted by at 7:55 PM on July 31
Seeing that Inflation is caused by the Government siphoning off value from Citizens Via printing more and more money. The ‘new’ 1 Zim Dollar will be 10,000,000,000 again in a few months.
Whites have already been kicked out, barring weird kickbacks from the Chinese - Zims resources cannot fall any further - so its solely Mr Mugarbage causing inflation.
Posted by A Brainwashed Canadian at 8:56 PM on July 31
Ah yes. Drive out the evil white men from power and we will have a black ecnomic paradise!!!! Blacks simply cannot survive without whites. They are inept, arrogant, clumsy, and stupid and can turn the most beautiful mansion into a despised, broken down slum in a matter of weeks. The greatest proof of this is the state of post-colonial african ‘states’ that were once overflowing with milk and honey when the white man was in charge, and are now derelict pseudo-nations that cannot even feed themselves. This is all coming soon to the U.S. if we continue the course we insist on folowing.
Posted by at 9:58 PM on July 31
“President Robert Mugabe threatened a state of emergency if businesses profiteer from the country’s economic crisis, a move that could give him even more sweeping powers to punish opponents in the event that political power-sharing talks fail”
This country is already in a “state of emergency” thanks to Mugabe who has profited handsomely from theft while his country goes to hell in a handbasked. Typical Africa.
Posted by at 11:02 PM on July 31
We shouldn’t laugh too hard at this one. After all, this country is headed in the same outrageous direction. Perhaps not quite to the same extreme but the same direction.
Posted by GetBackJack at 11:12 PM on July 31
“Blacks simply cannot survive without whites.”
— poster of 9:58 above.
This comment comes up often with Amren articles about Africa. I think it’s an exaggeration. There are a lot of other countries in Africa that seem to at least be stable. No, I don’t want to move to any of them, but few are as bad as Zimbabwe.
Posted by Reader-1 at 1:43 AM on August 1
I was sorry but completely unsuprised to read that the Zim government has been stealing foreign currency from businesses. After demolishing agriculture in Zimbabwe, there was only one logical next target.
China will pay for oil and minerals in Africa, but they are a practical people with - like me - absolutely no sense of humor when it comes to money. None. Compared with Chinese businessmen, J.R. Ewing, Vladimir Harkonnen and Saruman were pikers. Africa might think it can hustle Chinese the way it has the West, but it can’t be done. With Communism a dead letter in China, and all that international brotherhood dust in the wind, the mask is off. China isn’t exactly Nazi, but that is an alarmingly good description. What else does one call a capitalist state with an authoritarian government in which the people are convinced of their own racial superiority?
Posted by at 3:40 AM on August 1
Barely an article about the final few farmers recently run off their land. Just requests for food aid like it is perfectly normal and natural.
Posted by Amsterdamsky at 6:13 AM on August 1
Everytime I read about new horrors befalling Zimbabwe, I can’t help but feel a little glee that a country guilty of systematically murdering, raping, and robbing countless whites gets some cosmic justice.
Posted by at 11:36 AM on August 1
“China isn’t exactly Nazi, but that is an alarmingly good description. What else does one call a capitalist state with an authoritarian government in which the people are convinced of their own racial superiority?”
Damn, those seem like a familiar three things… Did you just say the black experience in America is Nazi-like or am I reading too much into it?
Posted by LHathaway at 12:41 PM on August 1
This will not effect my farmers for zimbabwe program. We will trade in american currency.
The problem is finding anyone who is stupid enough to go. I guess a sucker is not born every minute.
Posted by flyingtiger at 2:19 PM on August 1
“Why have whites have been unable to secure territory of their own in Africa?”
-Posted by at 7:55 PM on July 31
Because the Whites of today don’t have the backbone required to do what would be necessary to do so. And even if they did, they’d just get a knife in the back from all the PC Whites around the world. Do the sanctions against apartheid SA ring a bell?
Posted by at 3:48 PM on August 1
3.40 “China isn’t exactly Nazi, but that is an alarmingly good description. What else does one call a capitalist state with an authoritarian government in which the people are convinced of their own racial superiority?”
Racial esteem is not a bad thing. It would be better if we had more of it, here in the US. Generally speaking, the Chinese will cooperate with (and actually like) white Westerners. Especially the women. But, seriously, the Chinese appreciate and respect strength. And they are smart. From my experience and from my time there, I came away with the idea that they really want to be “like” Americans, as they perceive us to be (not as we actually too often are).
Politically they are ruthless, but can be managed. A Hu Jintao will chew up and spit out a lightweight like Obama. But it does not have to be like that. The Chinese should be our natural allies, and it could be so if we had intelligent policy men making intelligent decisions. Instead of clear thinking, we say we are prepared to go to war over Taiwan (as the Kuomintang cozy up to Beijing and even though the PRC has become our manufacturing base—how stupid is that?). The Chinese will take from Africa and be stronger for it. What is our Africa policy? We send billions down the toilet in order to “fight” Aids. Yep, we Americans are really the smart ones…
Posted by at 5:41 PM on August 1
I think it’s an exaggeration. There are a lot of other countries in Africa that seem to at least be stable. No, I don’t want to move to any of them, but few are as bad as Zimbabwe.
There were few countries in Africa as stable as Zimbabwe was, when it was known as Rhodesia. All of South Africa was economically stable, before apartheid. After apartheid ended, blacks from all over Africa moved there en mass. After all, here was a region with modern infrastructure, electricity, and running water. But now that blacks have gained more and more power there, the ecomony is less stable, and there is not enough water or electricty to serve the masses, or enough money to pay for it all. This is why Black South Africans are now killing and driving off other black African immigrants. This sudden wave of xenophobia is all too ironic, given the fact that blacks used to complain endlessly about how Whites ruled South Africa, even though Whites were the ones who built the infrastructure, and created the ecomony, and way of life, which made it so appealing. Now, Black South Africans don’t want to share with other black Africans. Lately, more and more are leaving, instead of immigrating there. And if it continues on the same path, it will likely meet the same fate as Zimbabwe. Black ruled African countries are never about democracy, since they almost always give way to dicatorships, where those in power, keep the wealth to themselves, and let everyone else fall by the wayside. Uganda once thought that Idi Amin would be it’s savior, but instead he was a blood thirsty tyrant. The same thing happened in Zimbabwe with Mugabe. Almost all black ruled countries in Africa are run this way.
Posted by at 8:15 PM on August 1
Blacks in Zimbabwe sit around in almost empty shops selling mouldy vegtables for millions of dollars. They should
be going back to the land and trying to raise food. But they
persist-their economy is becoming a cargo cult. They are waiting
for “Joe” to come back or at least rain goodies on them from the
sky. When will Whites learn? The more you feed the bears at Yel-
lowstone, the more you have to feed the bears at Yellowstone.
And the big trouble is always between the dumber tourists and
the smarter bears.
Posted by Freyr at 12:16 AM on August 2
This comment comes up often with Amren articles about Africa. I think it’s an exaggeration. There are a lot of other countries in Africa that seem to at least be stable. No, I don’t want to move to any of them, but few are as bad as Zimbabwe.
These other contries in Africa are only functional because of massive financial and other aid from the U.S. and they are effectively governed and operated by westerners with a black figurehead. Remove the western aid and they will fall as fast as Zim and SA. Anyone want to make bets that when Mugabe leaves or is removed from office, he seeks and will be granted sanctuary in Saudi Arabia? Within the year after that he will be joined by Mbeke of SA fame too I believe, but by then, America will be in such social upheaval that Africa so far away will be of little consequence since we will have “Africa in our Midst” to paraphrase Jared Taylor.
Posted by Skip at 1:16 AM on August 2
“Why have whites have been unable to secure territory of their own in Africa?”
-Posted by at 7:55 PM on July 31
Because Africa is full of murdering, thieving, raping, stone age blacks. Does that answer it?
Posted by Skip at 9:32 AM on August 2
When Ian Smith declared independence, the Rhodesian dollar was worth US $1.50. Just to keep things in perspective. It was closely pegged to the South African Rand, which is now worth about 10c.
When Uganda got its independence, it was 7 shilling to the dollar.
It is now 1800. The Deutschmark at the time was 30 odd cents, it is on par now. Some people know how to manage money, other don’t.
Posted by ciccio at 9:55 AM on August 2
“All of South Africa was economically stable, before apartheid. After apartheid ended, blacks from all over Africa moved there en mass.”
This was also true during apartheid. I remember seeing this on Pat Robertson’s news network, 700 club, during the decade when apartheid was a big story in the news. Millions of blacks had been and were illegally immigrating into SA. Now, in no way do I mean to defend ‘apartheid’. I can accept the media’s portrayal of apartheid as both wrong and evil. I can accept that and I’m a segregationist myself. I’m not sure why I accept this, everything else is pretty much a lie, but I do. I don’t like to hitch my train to defending the old SA or Rhodesian regimes. If whites want their own country, then fine, but just like everyone else, they don’t need to be ruling over others.
I’m surprised no one calls the current situation in SA, with all the double-standards, both legal and ideological ‘apartheid’. Well, it could be a reality worse than apartheid.
Posted by last white person here at 9:33 AM on August 3
The only way Zimbabwe can stabilize its currency is to switch to a precious metals standard. The problem is that when you do not have specie backing your currency, the only thing backing it is the capital improvements in the country and the total value of the goods and services your economy produces. Zimbabwe’s economy is contracting, due to the total destruction of the agricultural sector. One third of the population has fled the country, and one third is starving, so economic activity can be no greater than 1/3 of what it used to be. Additionally, the Zim government has been stealing the foreign currency held by businesses; foreign currency that would ordinarily pay for imports of things Zimbabwe does not make, like farm equipment, tools and vehicles. This will kill business in the cities and towns, further shrinking the economy. The theft of foreign currency from businesses is doubtless driving business capital out of the country. If I were a Zimbabwean business owner, I would open up an account in a South African branch of a British bank, beyond Mugabe’s reach. Additionally, what business owner would invest in more inventory when government officials are bent on confiscating everything they see? Even if Zimbabwe was not printing money at breakneck speed, hyperinflation would be a reality there.
I suspect that the only thing the Zanu-PF party could do to further wreck the economy would be to have the courts completely stop enforcing contracts, and to make it illegal to own gold (this last is a common device among corrupt governments, and these countries tend to be precisely the sorts of place whereone wants to own gold).
I wonder what would happen if people there simply stopped accepting Zim dollars as payment for anything. Given Zimbabwe’s location and trading partners, I would be inclined to accept only US dollars, Euros, British Pounds, Chinese Renminbi or South African Rand instead of the glorified Monopoly money the Zanu-PF government prints.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 12:39 PM on August 3
“Why have whites have been unable to secure territory of their own in Africa?”
“Because Africa is full of murdering, thieving, raping, stone age blacks. Does that answer it?”
You could add that, “Africa is full of murdering, thieving, raping, stone age blacks, and blacks in the USA and the world media, are more than just Ok with that”
Posted by at 3:59 PM on August 3
If our U.S. dollar continues to slide, those zeroes that Zimbabwe is dropping from their money will be added to ours, but we can save printing expenses by just adding the zeroes with a magic marker.
Posted by Skip at 4:45 PM on August 3