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[LARD]

Sorry I haven't been here for a while.
After 2008, they did go onto the american dollar and they're doing better now.
Another thing, Mugabe was elected, I think in the 60's, and for the first few years, he did pretty good. He is the first president after the colonials left.

One funny story I heard while I was there is that in a washroom at the Zimbabwe-South Africa border, there was a sign above the toilet saying, "No foreign objects in toilet such as newspapers, paper towels and Zimdollars." I guess when currency is worth less than a square of toilet paper, you're doing something wrong.

One of the reasons that they had to knock off zeros was that the bank machines couldn't handle such high numbers.

In 1945-1946, Hungary printed progressively higher denominations of money, eventually ending at 1020 pengő (100 million billion pengő - that's 100 quadrillion pengő).

Here's a 50 million mark banknote from the Weimar Republic in 1923: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:50_millionen_mark_1_september_1923.jpg

Were they at war at that time? Because that is often a cause of inflation.

And on that note I find it's pertinent to add I have one of these pinned to the corkboard above my desk.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I keep one of them in my wallet to remind myself what money actually is.

And arguably, the hyperinflation situation isn't the worse economic decision Zimbabwe has made.

Yes, Mugabe also took all the farms and large businesses away from the white people who used to run them and he gave them to native Zimbabweans. He can't stand colonialism. But the people he gave them to had no idea how to run them and so all the people that the white colonials used to employ lost their jobs.

I've always wondered how people live in that situation. How do you go on knowing that the formal currency is useless? Do you go back to the barter system? Does everyone using silver or tobacco as a currency? Does everyone just stop working government jobs?

Rural people farmed to survive, Urban people carried wheelbarrows of money to buy bread, and rich people bought things on the black market from South Africa with american dollars

[GlyphGryph]

Yes, Mugabe also took all the farms and large businesses away from the white people who used to run them and he gave them to native Zimbabweans. He can't stand colonialism. But the people he gave them to had no idea how to run them and so all the people that the white colonials used to employ lost their jobs.

Not just native Zimbabweans, in large part. Giving them to, say, the people who worked their might not have been a terrible move, and the cases where that happened worked out alright from what I understand.

But he mostly gave them to his cronies, who promptly did jack shit with it (including, yes, failing to bother hiring the people who worked them before) while the country starved.

[LARD]

Oh yes, thanks, I was unsure about that and so didn't mention it.

[Karnewarrior]

First you build enough farms to feed your people

Then you build basic industries to grow the economy

Then after you have enough money you invest in making your country a generally better place to live.

It's very basic and follows history too. You can't work factories with starving people for long, and even then they won't work as well as people who are well fed. Not to mention you're never going to have the innovation you need to compete in the market unless your innovators don't need to worry about feeding themselves.

I'm sure it's more complex on a detailed level but I fail to see how the overarching plan wouldn't work, unles a rebellion sprung up at a innopportune time.

[Humaan]

Here's a 50 million mark banknote from the Weimar Republic in 1923: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:50_millionen_mark_1_september_1923.jpg

Were they at war at that time? Because that is often a cause of inflation.

Weimar Republic (aka Germany after WWI) was screwed over in a peace deal to pay practically all the debts of the other nations in the world, they had to borrow to pay for it (since there was practically no one trading with them) and hyperinflation and the rise of a really angry Austrian ensued.

[Karnewarrior]

The life of Hitler teaches us three things:

1) Placing more finacial burden on a country than it can handle only fucks up the world more

2) The people fall victim to a big douche far more easily than a small one.

3) Pissing Germany off ends up good for no-one, especially not Germany.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

It was alright for Germany for a while. Hitler just made the mistake of having a kerfuffle with the Russians.

The first rule of geopolitics is that you never get in a kerfuffle with the Russians.

[Sheb]

To be honest, the kerfuffle with the Russians was probably coming anyway. I've heard some historians hypothetising that one of the reasons the Red Army lost so many troops in the first weeks (Even more than later on) was that it was halfway between a defensive and offensive stance.

And let's not forget the Hitler could have done so much better out of Barbarossa. Going for the oil fields of the Caucasus, grabbing them and then negociating a peace would have been okay. Making a peace with the UK before attacking Russia would have been smart too.

[GreatJustice]

To be honest, the kerfuffle with the Russians was probably coming anyway. I've heard some historians hypothetising that one of the reasons the Red Army lost so many troops in the first weeks (Even more than later on) was that it was halfway between a defensive and offensive stance.

And let's not forget the Hitler could have done so much better out of Barbarossa. Going for the oil fields of the Caucasus, grabbing them and then negociating a peace would have been okay. Making a peace with the UK before attacking Russia would have been smart too.

A big problem with Hitler's invasion was that he completely discarded the chance to gain the support of Russian and Ukrainian anti-communists. In the beginning, support for the Germans was fairly high in occupied areas, and there was support for pro-German partisans behind Soviet lines. However, a constant campaign of brutality eroded support enough to Stalin to be generally considered the preferable dictator.

He wouldn't have even needed to discount the plan to depopulate the East for German settlers. He could have promised the Ukrainians/Byelorussians/etc their own homelands under German protection, let them bleed Stalin's forces in a war of attrition (as happened to Germany in reality), and then turned around and wiped them out once Stalin was soundly defeated. Instead, he bit off more than he could chew and lost.

[Karnewarrior]

In other words, no-one can figure out how to conquer Russia for some reason.

You'd think "Bring a Blanket" would be simple enough for these people, but noooooo...

[Strife26]

In other words, no-one can figure out how to conquer Russia for some reason.

You'd think "Bring a Blanket" would be simple enough for these people, but noooooo...

Now, while I do dislike the ever-repeated, bland mongol praise that's currently in vogue, they totally managed it. In the winter, too.

[Karnewarrior]

I AM GHENGIS KHAN.

MY ARMIES ARE MANY, AND SO ARE MY WIVES.

ALL MY PEOPLE ARE WARMED BY MY MASSIVE [pectoral muscles], CLUTCHING ONTO [them], TELLING ME "GHENGIS. GHENGIS. OH GHENGIS. YOUR [pectoral muscles] [are] SO MASSIVE. LET US WARM OURSELVES BY [their] PULSATING MAGNIFICENCE."

^{IN THIS CASE, PECTORAL MUSCLES STANDS FOR BICEPS.}

[scriver]

In other words, no-one can figure out how to conquer Russia for some reason.

You'd think "Bring a Blanket" would be simple enough for these people, but noooooo...

Now, while I do dislike the ever-repeated, bland mongol praise that's currently in vogue, they totally managed it. In the winter, too.

Well, to be fair, they practically invaded out of Russia to begin with

[Loud Whispers]

I AM GHENGIS KHAN.

MY ARMIES ARE MANY, AND SO ARE MY WIVES.

ALL MY PEOPLE ARE WARMED BY MY MASSIVE [pectoral muscles], CLUTCHING ONTO [them], TELLING ME "GHENGIS. GHENGIS. OH GHENGIS. YOUR [pectoral muscles] [are] SO MASSIVE. LET US WARM OURSELVES BY [their] PULSATING MAGNIFICENCE."

^{IN THIS CASE, PECTORAL MUSCLES STANDS FOR BICEPS.}

AND THEN THE RUSSIANS LOOKED UP AT GENGHIS AND SAID:
"GENGHIS, PLEASE DON'T PUNCH US IN THE FACE WITH YOUR MASSIVE PECTORAL MUSCLES!"
AND THEN HE SAID:
"NO."
AND PUNCHED THEM IN THE FACE WITH HIS MASSIVE PECTORAL MUSCLES.

[Karnewarrior]

I AM GHENGIS KHAN.

MY ARMIES ARE MANY, AND SO ARE MY WIVES.

ALL MY PEOPLE ARE WARMED BY MY MASSIVE [pectoral muscles], CLUTCHING ONTO [them], TELLING ME "GHENGIS. GHENGIS. OH GHENGIS. YOUR [pectoral muscles] [are] SO MASSIVE. LET US WARM OURSELVES BY [their] PULSATING MAGNIFICENCE."

^{IN THIS CASE, PECTORAL MUSCLES STANDS FOR BICEPS.}

AND THEN THE RUSSIANS LOOKED UP AT GENGHIS AND SAID:
"GENGHIS, PLEASE DON'T PUNCH US IN THE FACE WITH YOUR MASSIVE [pectoral muscles]!"
AND THEN HE SAID:
"NO."
AND PUNCHED THEM IN THE FACE WITH HIS MASSIVE [pectoral muscles].

GENGHIS KHAN HAS FIXED YOUR QUOTE FOR YOU.
GENGHIS KHAN IS MAGNANIMOUS.