Zimbabwe unveils $100 trillion banknote

[Mugu]

AFP via Yahoo

HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe unveiled a 100 trillion dollar note Friday in the latest grim measure of its staggering economic collapse, heightening the urgency of a new round of unity talks set for next week.

snip

The new 100,000,000,000,000 Zim-dollar bill would have been worth about 300 US dollars (225 euros) at Thursday's exchange rate on the informal market, where most currency trading now takes place, but the value of the local currency erodes dramatically every day.

The move came just one week after the bank released a series of billion-dollar notes, which already are not worth enough for workers to withdraw their monthly salaries.

snip

When Mugabe took power at independence from Britain in 1980, the Zimbabwe dollar was equivalent to the British pound.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090116/ts_afp/zimbabweeconomycurrency_20090116125326">Complete article

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Unbelievable!

[Occam Bandage]

2. So all we need to do is buy one of those, take it back to 1980, and then we've fixed the deficit!

[Wiley50]

3. If we must intervene in another country

this is much more justifiable than Iraq ever was

but, of course, they probably don't have oil

nor does Israel see them as a threat

[derby378]

4. Okay, here's what I'm gonna do...

I'm gonna FedEx an international money order for US $300 to Zimbabwe's government in exchange for one of those $100 trillion bills.

Once that note is in my hand, I'll secretly introduce legislation on the Hill via my Republican governor to peg the US Dollar to Zimbabwe's currency.

Once that bill is signed into law, I'll show up on Capitol Hill, $100 trillion dollars in hard US currency in hand (give or take a few million because of exchange rates) and pay off our national debt. Prepare to see a lot of national mounments and courthouses renamed after yours truly.

I'll use the leftover money to send ginbarn and I on a trip around the world, fund cancer research, and build a sub-orbital pleasuredome for the wife and I.

So if any of you are considering a House or Senate race in the future, maybe I can send you a few bucks.

[JackRiddler]

5. I don't get it.

Why don't they do a trade in to at least drop all the zeroes? The Lira countries (Italy & Turkey) did so. The number of zeroes in themselves are a major factor in accelerating the devaluation.

[Yukari Yakumo]

7. The sad thing is...

They did do that at least once already.

[StreetKnowledge]

8. Three times, actually.

Zimbabwe has gone into economic meltdown far worse than the US has. The country is in the gutter, thanks to Mugabe.

[cobalt1999]

6. I'd like a few to give as humorous gifts.

Of course, I'm not paying $300 US dollars for one. I'll wait until next week when they are worth only $1 US dollar.