Zimbabwe: a Country Where Sheryl Crow Makes Sense

Zimbabwe, a country where even Sheryl Crow makes sense.

Zimbabwe Inflation is > 1000%

zimb_graphic.jpgIn a horrid lesson on what not to do with a blooming economy, President Mugabe of Zimbabwe demonstrates the futility of government planned economies and money-presses. Anyone working for foreigners and getting paid in foreign currency is fine, but if you get paid in Zimbabwe currency you better spend it right away.

This is what happens in planned, repressive economies. When you shut down street vendors, you cripple commerce – a thing not easy to foretell but one which always occurs. While Mugabe’s building 25 room mansions, his people are beginning to starve. Are you paying attention to what happens when capitalism is denied Hugo Chavez?

More from the New York Times:

How bad is inflation in Zimbabwe? Well, consider this: at a supermarket near the center of this tatterdemalion capital, toilet paper costs $417.

No, not per roll. Four hundred seventeen Zimbabwean dollars is the value of a single two-ply sheet. A roll costs $145,750 — in American currency, about 69 cents.

The price of toilet paper, like everything else here, soars almost daily, spawning jokes about an impending better use for Zimbabwe’s $500 bill, now the smallest in circulation.

But what is happening is no laughing matter. For untold numbers of Zimbabweans, toilet paper — and bread, margarine, meat, even the once ubiquitous morning cup of tea — have become unimaginable luxuries. All are casualties of the hyperinflation that is roaring toward 1,000 percent a year, a rate usually seen only in war zones.  

Zimbabwe, a country where even Sheryl Crow makes sense.

Previous article on how pure capitalism always outperforms planned economies.