Heavy Cost of Inflation in Zimbabwe

Look at the bright side, at least he's not living in a mean country. On the downside, all that money is good for one trip to the grocery store.

Isn't Marxism just dreamy?

In most parts of the world, a man carrying around this many millions of dollars might be thought to be rich beyond his wildest dreams.

Not, however, in Zimbabwe where an inflation rate of 100,500 per cent has brought a level of poverty beyond the long-suffering citizens' worst nightmares.

Yesterday this man in the capital Harare was barely able to carry the vast amount of money he needed for a simple shopping trip to buy groceries.

On paper he was a millionaire several times over.

Unfortunately, his Zimbabwean dollars are not worth the paper they are written on in a country where 25million of them was worth just one U.S. dollar yesterday – a new low.

If he had time to count out 25million of his dollars it would be the equivalent of 50p, barely enough to pay for a can of drink or a loaf of bread.

As Zimbabwe slips further into economic collapse under the leadership of Robert Mugabe, ordinary citizens carry around bags of 100,000 and 200,000 notes bundled together in bricks to pay for the most basic of items.

In shops and businesses, electronic counting machines are as important as strong shoulders where £50 weighs in at nearly 40lb of the local currency.

It is common to see high denomination notes littering the streets, while businesses are reluctant to accept cheques or credit cards because by the time the amounts clear the system traders stand to lose significant amounts of money.

Just think about this when you get your relentless daily dose of how bad the U.S. economy is, and all the caterwauling from the socialist Democrats on how they're going to fix it.

Previously.