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Mises Economics Blog

Biggest check ever

January 7, 2009 8:07 AM by Jeffrey Tucker | Other posts by Jeffrey Tucker | Comments (28)

Drawn on a Zimbabwe bank: one quadrillion, seventy-two trillion, four hundred and eighteen billion, three million dollars. Well, that's what you get when the inflation rate is 12.5 million percent.

More on Zimbabwe here.

Comments (28)

  • Christopher Hightower

  • The average American couldn't fill out that check. Or imagine the local bank teller counting out that much.

  • Published: January 7, 2009 8:45 AM

  • Reason

  • The date on that check is July 2008. What should the number be now?

    .... and how about now?

  • Published: January 7, 2009 9:03 AM

  • Garrett Schmitt

  • Wow. They have an extra line after "the sum of".

    Apparently Duly's is a car dealership in Harare. The most surreal thing about this is that you can apparently still buy a car in Zimbabwe, and with a personal check at that!

  • Published: January 7, 2009 9:26 AM

  • Joe

  • What is not surprising is that the Zimbabwe Central Bank, just like all other central banks and the Governments that back them never take responsibility for their own inflationary policies or over spending. In fact, I just went to the Zimbabwe Central Bank's website and they are now blaming their excessive money creation on the Zimbabwe stock exchange. They claim that fraudulent checks were intercepted amounting to $60 hexillion! Here is a bit from the below linked Zimbabwe Central Bank statement:

    "3.4 Between the 10th and the 20th of November,
    2008, total fraudulent cheques we intercepted in
    the clearing system had risen to $60 hexillion
    ($60,000,000,000,000,000,000,000).

    3.5 The tragic reality is that this $60 hexillion had
    infact been deployed on the Zimbabwe Stock
    Exchange, bidding up share prices; with some
    going onto the foreign exchange parallel market."

    What is even more ironic is the fact that many Americans can not seem to put two and two together. They do not see that what the U.S. Government and the Federal Reserve are doing is just what the Zimbabwe Government and their Central Bank did years ago. That is how hyperinflation starts. Link to the Zimbabwe Central bank statement (PDF file) and the website:

    http://www.rbz.co.zw/pdfs/Press_Zse.pdf

    http://www.rbz.co.zw/index.asp

  • Published: January 7, 2009 9:30 AM

  • Jeffrey Tucker Author Profile Page

  • Central bank is never to blame!

  • Published: January 7, 2009 9:33 AM

  • shanenwy

  • Has anyone notified Krugman?

  • Published: January 7, 2009 9:45 AM

  • ajax

  • I love the "only" at the end of the written amount. God forbid if he is a dollar or two off here, it might through everything out of whack.

  • Published: January 7, 2009 10:28 AM

  • Bruce Koerber

  • As far as I can tell that is the check used to buy a single copy of the paperback edition of Keynes' "General Theory"!

    You can tell the market has become exceedingly perverse. Why else would anyone want to exchange a worthless piece of paper for worthless pieces of paper?

  • Published: January 7, 2009 10:59 AM

  • William

  • Of all the people who should know their large numbers, I'd think the Zimbabwean Central Bank should be at the top of the list... and yet they don't know that hexillion isn't a word. If they're going to say quadrillion and not tetrillion, let's be consistently Latin and say sextillion.

  • Published: January 7, 2009 12:08 PM

  • Uncle B

  • One day soon, Americans will be writing checks like this ! The intent purpose of such inflation is to bury high debts, made earlier, in the numbers, thus robbing the lenders of any real value in return - it is a "numbers" game, that plays out every time money is printed, and Obama intends printing a Trillion dollars U.S. this year! If you are owed U.S. dollars or hold U.S.Dollars, you are about to be F**ked right up the brown spot on your purchasing power of return! This is how Yankee Doodle keeps ahead of the final payoff! This is why oil in the future will be "Purchasing Power Parity Priced" and Americans who produce little, will go to electric cars , and will suffer great sorrows during the (GRD) great republican depression! As one great American philosopher said . . . "You can fool some of the people all of the time , and all of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time . . ." and the Americans are finding out how true this is now in the GRD!

  • Published: January 7, 2009 2:44 PM

  • severin

  • What is this, 37 cents American?

  • Published: January 7, 2009 4:49 PM

  • Jester

  • Wow, this is all just a Monopoly gone so far... with cheating!

  • Published: January 7, 2009 6:50 PM

  • Auric Goldfinger

  • By the time it cashes it's worth a peanut shell! Gives a new meaning to "the check is in the mail."

  • Published: January 7, 2009 10:04 PM

  • Rocky Eades

  • William, a hexillion here, a sextillion there - pretty soon you're talking about big money!

  • Published: January 7, 2009 10:43 PM

  • Rocky Eades

  • William, a hexillion here, a sextillion there - pretty soon you're talking about big money!

  • Published: January 7, 2009 10:55 PM

  • Brian

  • I can't make out the signature, I think it says P. Krugman?

  • Published: January 7, 2009 11:58 PM

  • Sara J.

  • Having worked in the banking sector, I can only pity the poor Zimbabwean proof operators.

  • Published: January 8, 2009 8:15 AM

  • MatthewWilliam

  • Just think of the spending multiplier when this cheque is cashed...

  • Published: January 8, 2009 10:37 AM

  • Michael

  • So who's the payee ("Doly's")?

    Sounds about the market price for a gallon of milk in Zimbabwe.

  • Published: January 8, 2009 11:51 AM

  • HappyPanda

  • it's on mojo avenue!

  • Published: January 9, 2009 7:07 AM

  • Gamut

  • MatthewWilliam:
    "Just think of the spending multiplier when this cheque is cashed..."

    That, sir, made me snort my scotch. Thank you.

  • Published: January 10, 2009 12:21 AM

  • Stephen Grossman

  • If there is any justice left in the world, Krugman will be paid in Zimbabwean dollars.

    And why consider him a scientist? Why not an economic technician or an inflation technician?

  • Published: January 10, 2009 10:47 AM

  • Shailendra

  • Currently the exchange rate is 1 USD = 9 326 444.00 ZWD. So that means $1,072,418,003,000,000.00 ZWD = $114986805.58206321723477887177578 USD.

    Now that's a cheque!!

  • Published: January 10, 2009 8:30 PM

  • Trevor

  • The is a CRAP load of money.

    ... but it's not worth anything.

  • Published: January 11, 2009 11:14 PM

  • ChinaTrader

  • It's a funny check, boys.
    But if avoid speaking about jokes, there is a serious situation now around the world. Every nation got a shake by this economical crisis.
    Hope this year 2009 will be without such surprises.

  • Published: January 12, 2009 1:14 PM

  • Worthy Apps

  • Are they USA$?

  • Published: January 12, 2009 6:52 PM

  • Credit

  • Zimbabwe Ponzi Economics are not much different than American Ponzi Economics.

  • Published: January 21, 2009 10:52 AM

  • 3rdliberation.org

  • The Mugabe govt will point fingers and find people to blame for their own incompetances. It is never their fault as they have done "good" for their peole.
    Surely no one wants to see this regime go any further.

  • Published: May 25, 2009 10:20 AM

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