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Mises Economics Blog

Crystal Ball or Creditcard Bill

July 15, 2009 8:17 AM by Briggs Armstrong (Archive)

One can not help but find what is perhaps the strangest news story of the day a bit prophetic. A man in north Texas received a $23 quadrillion Visa bill. The charge was made at a restaurant in Dallas. Obviously this was a computer error and this gentleman didn't run up 200 times the national debt on his visa.

However in Weimar or Zimbabwe such a bill would not be seen as strange at all. Now I am by no means claiming that we are going to have Zimbabwe style inflation but I am fairly sure that consumers are going to be getting much larger bills in the future; thanks to Bernenke and his inflationist policies.

100-billion-zimbabwe-dollars.jpg

Bookmark/Share | Comments (13)

Comments (13)

  • Walt D. Walt D.

    I think we will be seeing more of this - just to get us used to the idea!

    Published: July 15, 2009 12:44 PM

  • End the Fed End the Fed

    A Non-Federal Non-Reserve Note really IS that worthless that it would take 23 quadrillion of them to buy food.

    Published: July 15, 2009 1:25 PM

  • End the Fed End the Fed

    The only thing that keeps its value is the threat of violence by the government for refusing to accept them ("legal tender" laws). Not to mention, you're forced to use them at some point in order to pay "taxes", because even if you trade with gold or barter, they tax the "fair value" of each transaction. I would love to use gold and not Non-Federal Non-Reserve Notes, but the IRS (the Fed's enforcement arm) makes me use them.

    Published: July 15, 2009 1:34 PM

  • End the Fed End the Fed

    And that's the only reason for the "income tax". It has nothing to do with funding government. It's to force people to use fake money.

    Published: July 15, 2009 1:35 PM

  • Fred Fred

    Looks like Visa must be modifying and testing their system to handle hyperinflation.

    Published: July 15, 2009 3:43 PM

  • Ben Ben

    Notice that the Zimbabwe note is also valid legal tender only for six months (1 July 2008 to 31 December 2008). What a money system!

    Published: July 15, 2009 4:38 PM

  • Timothy Timothy

    That is interesting that the Zim dollar above becomes void within six months of issue. Isn't that a feature that some Keynesians have been suggesting as a remedy for US dollar deflation?

    So why would the Zim central bank do that when they were already experiencing hyperinflation? After all, they knew better than anyone that 100 billion Zim wouldn't even be pocket change within six months of issue. Why make that outcome explicit to the bearer? Was Dr. Gideon Gono actually trying to make the currency worthless?

    Published: July 15, 2009 6:26 PM

  • Charlie Charlie

    Looks like the same happened in Manchester, New Hampshire.

    Published: July 15, 2009 9:44 PM

  • Charlie Charlie

    Looks like the same happened in Manchester, New Hampshire.

    Published: July 15, 2009 9:46 PM

  • TokyoTom TokyoTom

    Briggs, great photo, which if not worth a hundred billion words is still worth quite a few!

    BTW, I think you mean "Bernanke", not "Bernenke".

    TT

    Published: July 15, 2009 10:12 PM

  • Walt D. Walt D.

    Briggs - this is what you carry around for tips. Check here.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=140332664714

    BTW did he have one of these card that give you money back in points? At 2% back, he should have enough to pay for the next stimu;us package and Obama's health care plan.

    Published: July 15, 2009 11:53 PM

  • Toby Toby

    By the way, it's called "Weimar", not "Wiemar".

    Published: July 16, 2009 10:50 AM

  • Bruce Koerber Bruce Koerber

    Education and Ethics
    Thursday, July 16, 2009

    Auditing The Federal Reserve Gains More 'Supporters."

    Of course the unConstitutional coup wants to find ways to undermine the process. Who are the ones who will do their bidding in the guise of being supporters?

    Almost all politicians can be chameleons and change to fit into their surroundings. But there are some with principles.

    In this period of transition most are chameleons, with a few principled ones.

    Here is the true test: Who among these elected representatives will go to the media and insist that it educate the public about the corruption that exists in the secretive central bank? All of the sudden we would know how few are true to their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.

    Regardless, the movement forward may inspire a renegade reporter to go outside the boundaries set by the unConstitutional coup on its media lapdogs and educate the masses about the crimes of the Federal Reserve.

    We can only hope. The future is interestingly unknown!

    Published: July 16, 2009 12:00 PM

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