I read with a mix of amusement, sadness and anger, how an African nation deals with its own set of problems during these global economic & financial meltdowns. That nation is Zimbabwe – once a proud colony of the British crown which efficiently sucked dry all wealth through centuries of enslavement – now an impoverished, dying nation through three decades of reckless, iron-fisted dictator rule.
But just how can a nation die? When politics divide the population and devastate the economy; when politics consolidate power and dictate an iron-fist rule; when politics enslave the people (through centuries of colonialization) and oppress (through decades of dictatorship) the helpless masses; when politics have vested interests where the world (West/UN) plunders its wealth then turns against it (abandons it) when wealth is exhausted; and when nature turns against it (with devastating famine, floods and epidermics). But with every death, there arises a new nation – the birth of a Sextrilion Nation (wow, I actually learned a new word today – sextrillion).
What, then, is a Sextrillion Nation? By definition, a Sextrillion Nation is one where the inflation rate is unthinkably high, at sextrillion % (that’s tens of billion-trillion-percent, or a double-digit figure with 21 zeros behind it!). And the honor goes to Zimbabwe. Logically, this makes no sense – but what African nation makes sense these days!
Their currency is so de-valued now that it’s worth almost nothing (literally) – because their inflation rate was so insanely-high, at 231 million percent (get this, that’s 231,000,000%) – and that was 6 months ago. The estimate now is almost 90 sextrillion percent (that’s, 90,000,000,000,000,000,000,000% in inflation rate). I suppose, this is a new ‘galactic’ record! And I thought the double-digit or triple-digit inflation figures in some South American countries (i.e. Brazil, Argentina, etc.) are insane. So, the Zimbabwean government has created a new dollar bill – a 100 Trillion Dollar bill (in Zimbabwean Dollars, of course), just something the population can use as a medium of exchange for goods and services. This ‘humongously-denominated’ bill is worth only USD 300. There were billion-dollar bills circulated a week ago, but still couldn’t be used to even pay salaries.
To put it in perspectives, our RM1,000-bill is valued at about USD300 at today’s exchange rate of 3.30. Imagine our inflation rate is at millions of percent - not 10%, not 100%, not 1,000% - but godzillion million%. That alone is mind-bonggling! Come to think of it, it’s actually illogical for any nation’s economy to have come to this stage – unless their govt forcefully & frequently intervened and disrupted the free market by continuously pumping in excess money to resuscitate an already-failing economy.
Coming back to the above analogy, now imagine Bank Negara Malaysia introducing RM 1 Trillion bills (that’s, RM 1,000,000,000,000-bill, each worth the same USD 300)! Then imagine, if BNM did not circulate this ‘gigantuan’ of a bill, we would have to use 1 billion of our RM1,000-bills, just to buy something worth USD300 (like, pay for petrol and utilities or buy groceries). I’d think that each ATM machine would need an 18-wheeler truck attached behind it – barely enough room to hold just one-day’s withdrawals. Then again, this would be a boon to the construction industry because each banking outlet would then need to be upgraded to skyscrapers – to hold all that godzillions and sextrillions and _____illions (you fill in the blanks) of paper monies.
It’s so unthinkable these things can happen, or allowed to happen, in any country. What this means is that, even the upper-class, high-income population of that nation is close to being poor. How do you, then, describe their population in the opposite spectrum of income? Even the description ‘poorest-poor’ can be a gross over-statement.
Zimbabwe used to be one of the most developed nations in Africa in the late ‘80s, in the ranks of South Africa. But decades of political intrigues, internally, the country is driven to bankruptcy (here again, even the word ‘bankruptcy’ is an over-statement). Since gaining its independence from Britain in 1980, the country has been rocked to its core by political dictatorship that has left the nation’s economy in tatters. Nothing seems to work there, not before, not now, and definitely not in the near future. What I don’t (and probably, never will) understand is why the people of Zimbabwe, for decades long, continue supporting an obviously and openly incompetent government? Do they all need to starve to death (all 10 million of them, en masse), before they can see the point? And why aren’t the so-called ‘superpowers’ (the self-ordained ‘police of the world’), intervene with all their creative sanctions and military overtures, like what they’re proudly doing to the middle-east?
If there is a clear-cut answer to these questions – it’s because POLITICS have divided their nation and their people, and have successfully minced their economy into unrecognizable pieces - with devastating effects on 10 million people who bowed to an iron-fist rule of just one sick man. [Apparently, if I can still recall, this same ‘sick’ person once shook hands with our PM, back in the early ‘90s – during the South-South dialogues, etc..] The masses just have no clue what’s happening to them and their country, and even if they do, they still don’t know what to do about it. Only now, are they beginning to wake up and see a little bit of light – but 28 years of misery have thus passed. Optimistically, they’d probably need another half-century before they can be at the level we are now – that is, if the whole of Africa doesn’t drown in today’s global meltdowns!
Amazingly, the US can also be considered a bankrupt nation – because they owe a lot to the world, they spend a lot more than they can save – resulting in Trillions of Dollars (in USD, of course) in trade & budget deficits. What do you do when you spend more than you earn – you borrow. But how can the US borrow when they are so deep in deficit? Who would want to lend them any money? Well, they just print new dollar bills and circulate them in the economy (to pay for their spendings – such reckless greed). The difference is they don’t have to print a USD 1 Trillion-bill, just the regular USD1, USD20, USD100 bills will do just fine – because who (in the world) can say anything. And of course, they also issue new Treasuries (T-bills) and govt. bonds, so that creditors can buy these instruments in exchange for loans to US. And the creditors are no other than corporations/institutions in the US itself and everywhere else on Earth (usually, Asians). These instruments are good enough guarantees of payment – no one ever questioned/doubted the US government’s credibility, or thought that the US can actually go bankrupt, like what’s happening now.
See the similarity and difference between these 2 nations. Zimbabwe is broke and its economy is practically non-existent – so their 100 Trillion dollar bill is worth only USD300, maybe even less as time passes. The US is also broke (more broke than broke itself), and its economy is so messed up – but their 100 Trillion dollar bill (if there ever is one) will still be worth 100 Trillion US Dollars! The difference is due to the fact that, while Zimbabwe used politics to stranglehold its population and stunt the growth of its economy, the US used politics (through military prowess, economic intimidation, and discriminating, double-standard treatments) to stranglehold other “vested-interests” nations of the Eastern world while catalyzing the perceived ‘growth’ of its own defunct economy. The US (and the West) couldn’t care less about Zimbabwe (no intervention is necessary as there are no more wealth to be plundered), so they let Zimbabwe destroys itself. JUST LIKE WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO PALESTINE - SPECIFICALLY, GAZA.
What happened to Zimbabwe, can definitely happen to any other nation on Earth, when politics are let to rule. Nations that subject themselves to be influenced by the major powers of global politics (i.e. UN, etc.), and irresponsibly create a strong dependence on the major powers of global economy (i.e. US, West), end up wrecking their own internal politics and economy, with illogically-high inflationary rates as just one of its by-products. We are ushering in a new eon in world history where the births of sextrillion nations will be a passing norm.
You can find the original article from AFP, either entitled “Zimbabwe unveils 100 trillion dollar note ahead of unity talks” or “EU threatens new Zimbabwe sanctions as crisis spirals”, here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090116/wl_afp/zimbabweeconomycurrency;_ylt=Av.KPK2j0voJ07VNx6dkwE0uQE4F
But just how can a nation die? When politics divide the population and devastate the economy; when politics consolidate power and dictate an iron-fist rule; when politics enslave the people (through centuries of colonialization) and oppress (through decades of dictatorship) the helpless masses; when politics have vested interests where the world (West/UN) plunders its wealth then turns against it (abandons it) when wealth is exhausted; and when nature turns against it (with devastating famine, floods and epidermics). But with every death, there arises a new nation – the birth of a Sextrilion Nation (wow, I actually learned a new word today – sextrillion).
What, then, is a Sextrillion Nation? By definition, a Sextrillion Nation is one where the inflation rate is unthinkably high, at sextrillion % (that’s tens of billion-trillion-percent, or a double-digit figure with 21 zeros behind it!). And the honor goes to Zimbabwe. Logically, this makes no sense – but what African nation makes sense these days!
Their currency is so de-valued now that it’s worth almost nothing (literally) – because their inflation rate was so insanely-high, at 231 million percent (get this, that’s 231,000,000%) – and that was 6 months ago. The estimate now is almost 90 sextrillion percent (that’s, 90,000,000,000,000,000,000,000% in inflation rate). I suppose, this is a new ‘galactic’ record! And I thought the double-digit or triple-digit inflation figures in some South American countries (i.e. Brazil, Argentina, etc.) are insane. So, the Zimbabwean government has created a new dollar bill – a 100 Trillion Dollar bill (in Zimbabwean Dollars, of course), just something the population can use as a medium of exchange for goods and services. This ‘humongously-denominated’ bill is worth only USD 300. There were billion-dollar bills circulated a week ago, but still couldn’t be used to even pay salaries.
To put it in perspectives, our RM1,000-bill is valued at about USD300 at today’s exchange rate of 3.30. Imagine our inflation rate is at millions of percent - not 10%, not 100%, not 1,000% - but godzillion million%. That alone is mind-bonggling! Come to think of it, it’s actually illogical for any nation’s economy to have come to this stage – unless their govt forcefully & frequently intervened and disrupted the free market by continuously pumping in excess money to resuscitate an already-failing economy.
Coming back to the above analogy, now imagine Bank Negara Malaysia introducing RM 1 Trillion bills (that’s, RM 1,000,000,000,000-bill, each worth the same USD 300)! Then imagine, if BNM did not circulate this ‘gigantuan’ of a bill, we would have to use 1 billion of our RM1,000-bills, just to buy something worth USD300 (like, pay for petrol and utilities or buy groceries). I’d think that each ATM machine would need an 18-wheeler truck attached behind it – barely enough room to hold just one-day’s withdrawals. Then again, this would be a boon to the construction industry because each banking outlet would then need to be upgraded to skyscrapers – to hold all that godzillions and sextrillions and _____illions (you fill in the blanks) of paper monies.
It’s so unthinkable these things can happen, or allowed to happen, in any country. What this means is that, even the upper-class, high-income population of that nation is close to being poor. How do you, then, describe their population in the opposite spectrum of income? Even the description ‘poorest-poor’ can be a gross over-statement.
Zimbabwe used to be one of the most developed nations in Africa in the late ‘80s, in the ranks of South Africa. But decades of political intrigues, internally, the country is driven to bankruptcy (here again, even the word ‘bankruptcy’ is an over-statement). Since gaining its independence from Britain in 1980, the country has been rocked to its core by political dictatorship that has left the nation’s economy in tatters. Nothing seems to work there, not before, not now, and definitely not in the near future. What I don’t (and probably, never will) understand is why the people of Zimbabwe, for decades long, continue supporting an obviously and openly incompetent government? Do they all need to starve to death (all 10 million of them, en masse), before they can see the point? And why aren’t the so-called ‘superpowers’ (the self-ordained ‘police of the world’), intervene with all their creative sanctions and military overtures, like what they’re proudly doing to the middle-east?
If there is a clear-cut answer to these questions – it’s because POLITICS have divided their nation and their people, and have successfully minced their economy into unrecognizable pieces - with devastating effects on 10 million people who bowed to an iron-fist rule of just one sick man. [Apparently, if I can still recall, this same ‘sick’ person once shook hands with our PM, back in the early ‘90s – during the South-South dialogues, etc..] The masses just have no clue what’s happening to them and their country, and even if they do, they still don’t know what to do about it. Only now, are they beginning to wake up and see a little bit of light – but 28 years of misery have thus passed. Optimistically, they’d probably need another half-century before they can be at the level we are now – that is, if the whole of Africa doesn’t drown in today’s global meltdowns!
Amazingly, the US can also be considered a bankrupt nation – because they owe a lot to the world, they spend a lot more than they can save – resulting in Trillions of Dollars (in USD, of course) in trade & budget deficits. What do you do when you spend more than you earn – you borrow. But how can the US borrow when they are so deep in deficit? Who would want to lend them any money? Well, they just print new dollar bills and circulate them in the economy (to pay for their spendings – such reckless greed). The difference is they don’t have to print a USD 1 Trillion-bill, just the regular USD1, USD20, USD100 bills will do just fine – because who (in the world) can say anything. And of course, they also issue new Treasuries (T-bills) and govt. bonds, so that creditors can buy these instruments in exchange for loans to US. And the creditors are no other than corporations/institutions in the US itself and everywhere else on Earth (usually, Asians). These instruments are good enough guarantees of payment – no one ever questioned/doubted the US government’s credibility, or thought that the US can actually go bankrupt, like what’s happening now.
See the similarity and difference between these 2 nations. Zimbabwe is broke and its economy is practically non-existent – so their 100 Trillion dollar bill is worth only USD300, maybe even less as time passes. The US is also broke (more broke than broke itself), and its economy is so messed up – but their 100 Trillion dollar bill (if there ever is one) will still be worth 100 Trillion US Dollars! The difference is due to the fact that, while Zimbabwe used politics to stranglehold its population and stunt the growth of its economy, the US used politics (through military prowess, economic intimidation, and discriminating, double-standard treatments) to stranglehold other “vested-interests” nations of the Eastern world while catalyzing the perceived ‘growth’ of its own defunct economy. The US (and the West) couldn’t care less about Zimbabwe (no intervention is necessary as there are no more wealth to be plundered), so they let Zimbabwe destroys itself. JUST LIKE WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO PALESTINE - SPECIFICALLY, GAZA.
What happened to Zimbabwe, can definitely happen to any other nation on Earth, when politics are let to rule. Nations that subject themselves to be influenced by the major powers of global politics (i.e. UN, etc.), and irresponsibly create a strong dependence on the major powers of global economy (i.e. US, West), end up wrecking their own internal politics and economy, with illogically-high inflationary rates as just one of its by-products. We are ushering in a new eon in world history where the births of sextrillion nations will be a passing norm.
You can find the original article from AFP, either entitled “Zimbabwe unveils 100 trillion dollar note ahead of unity talks” or “EU threatens new Zimbabwe sanctions as crisis spirals”, here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090116/wl_afp/zimbabweeconomycurrency;_ylt=Av.KPK2j0voJ07VNx6dkwE0uQE4F
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