Someone I have known for only a few days just gave me 10 million dollars. The gift seemed huge until I saw the same person give someone else 500 million.
I’m posting the evidence here. This is real currency printed by The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in this current year.
Actually the 10 million dollar bank note was issued on January 1, 2008 and expired on June 30, 2008. The 500 million dollar note, however, is current. It was issued on May the 2nd, 2008, and is dated to expire on December 31, 2008.
Runaway inflation has made both notes worthless.
When a co-worker from Zimbabwe described for me what it is like to live under such inflation, I couldn’t understand what I was hearing. A loaf of bread that sold one day for several million (or several hundred million) dollars would sell the next day for twice as much.
Full of questions, I expected to hear that when the currency failed, people would shift to a barter economy, trading goods and services rather than exchanging money.
“No,” my friend explained, “That’s not what they do. Neither do they have enough water to count on food from home gardens.” “So”, I pressed– “What do you do? How do you live?”
The answer came back. “We help each other. If anyone has anything, they share it with others.” An acquaintance from South Africa, who knew this person, said, “Yes, that’s what they do.”
I’m still shaking my head…and wondering what treasures in my own life will soon be worthless…and whether it might actually be true that some of the world’s poorest people may actually be some of the richest.
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