Not worth a pengo
The Instapundit linked to the top five worst hyperinflations of all time. The worst was in Hungary in 1946:
Highest monthly inflation: 13,600,000,000,000,000%
Prices doubled every: 15.6 hoursThe worst case of hyperinflation ever recorded occurred in Hungary in the first half of 1946. By the midpoint of the year, Hungary's highest denomination bill was the 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 (One Hundred Quintillion) pengo, compared to 1944s highest denomination, 1,000 pengo. At the height of Hungary's inflation, the CATO study estimates that the daily inflation rate stood at 195 percent, with prices doubling approximately every 15.6 hours, coming out to a monthly inflation rate of 13.6 quadrillion percent.
The situation was so dire that the government adopted a special currency that was created explicitly for tax and postal payments and was adjusted each day via radio. The pengo was eventually replaced later that year in a currency revaluation, but it is estimated that when the currency was replaced in August 1946, the total of all Hungarian banknotes in circulation equaled the value of one one-thousandth of a US Dollar.
Holy devaluations, Batman! An entire currency worth a tenth of a cent. That just blows my mind. That and having a radio adjusted currency. Strangely, it sounds sort of science fictiony. Like, if you didn't know how fucked up it is, it would sound cool.
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On a lark, I bought my…
On a lark, I bought my daughter $150 trillion Zimbabwean dollars the other week. A $100 trillion note and a $50 trillion note, for when the buying power in the first note is exhausted. (As if that would ever happen!)
Total cost? $2.99, plus shipping. I wuz robbed, but it was worth it.
Where'd you order that? I…
Where'd you order that? I think I might want to lay my hands on a few trillion myself.
@buckethead - I checked…
@buckethead - I checked Amazon, and found that they would sell me the pair for, like, $10. But, Amazon being Amazon, they also listed other sellers, including this guy:
http://goo.gl/uu7Ig
Yeah I can't imagine what that would be like. Recessions aren't that hard to imagine but hyperinflation totally fucks with the my mind.
True -- the level of…
True -- the level of governmental malpractice required to cause the sorts of hyperinflation noted here would surely be enough to make one submit to complete despair.