John wrote,JR, did you have to trade in your old clunker to get it?
I did try to trade a clunker but the rules kept me from doing it... mind was a 6 cylinder and it must be an 8 to qualify, plus mfg stated mileage was better than 18.
Alex I enjoyed your joke
But this Zimdollar bill or Zimbabwe dollar note is real, I got it back in June ... its the world's biggest denomination bill and the largest to date Zimbabwean bill they’ve issued for circulation, but who knows? Currently the Zimbabwe dollar is officially dead, it was suspended indefinitely in April 2009.
http://www.rbz.co.zw/ It was killed off in hopes of curbing record inflation of billions of % points, replacing it with US dollars, the South African rand, a couple of other currencies, and of course gold, but it continues to circulate. President Robert Mugabe who's picture was on the 1st Trillion bill still declares it their legal tender. Governor Gideon Gono, a Mugabe loyalist acknowledged printing too much extra money to fund government spending that fueled inflation. Former Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced in January 2009 that Zimbabweans could legally use foreign currencies alongside the Zimbabwe dollar. Current Finance Minister Tendai Biti of the long-time opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has described the central bank as "totally discredited" and "at the core of economic decay." He has a power sharing agreement between his (MDC) and Mugabe's Zanu-PF party declares the Zimdollar obsolete back in May. You can Google and You tube this.
Right now the country is in financial chaos, their economy, and GDP has collapsed, they have divided leadership and have become one of the poorest countries in the world, and the way it looks, will continue to be. Opposition leader turned Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who leads his Movement for Democratic Change is in coalition with Mugabe, who also would like to be President, in addition to MDC grouping of Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from Britain in 1980, with a once-vibrant economy as agriculture being 40% of their export (grain), industrial, garment factories, manufacturing, and mining just behind.
BTY Gideon Gono is still the reserve bank governor at Zimbabwe's Central Bank, known as “Farther Christmas” and “Mr Inflation.” He dishes it out to individuals within the party, to Mugabe and his family and political friends. The wealthy and powerful vice-president of Zimbabwe, Joyce Mujuru, with her husband Solomon have privileged access to Central Bank. They prospered as the rest of the country suffers. Despite EU & UN sanctions against Zimbabwe being in place since 2002, and extended this year, Mrs Mujuru has allegedly been trying to fund a multi-million gold deal in Europe, which amounted to transferring wealth out of Zimbabwe. This deal was stopped because of the attention the national news media exposed the parties involved. This country has been a rat ship sinking for 6 years. Within the DRC there are huge mining exploits which are being made by Solomon Mujuru and Joyce Mujuru. Other elites have control of the Marange diamond fields of Zimbabwe because of unclear title to them, their use of forced labor, human rights abuses (torture, beatings, rape, & sexual exploitation), illegal mining & smuggling in the fields, corrupt Principal Buyers and Smuggling routes & Police smuggling syndicates, all designed to strip wealth from the Zimbabwe people and accumulate billions for the elite. The small elite group of the richest and most powerful people in Zimbabwe who are top level politicians connected to Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party live in lavish mansions, and are hastily transferring their wealth by selling gold & diamonds in Europe through brokers /commodities trader so they can transport it from Nairobi to Zurich. I suppose dirty politicians are the same all over the world.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7907278.stm
Mugabe was warned by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the country’s central bank that his regime on land reform wouldn’t work. They predicted that going forward with farmland seizures would result in a pullout of foreign investment, defaults on farm bank loans, and a massive decline in agricultural production. Mugabe began seizure of white-owned commercial farms back in 2000 and headlong using mainly groups of young, politically motivated thugs. These armed AK-47 thugs attacked and raided the farmers who had no police protection, acted on behalf of the future "beneficiaries" of farm expropriations—mostly members of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. Once the owners and their senior staff had been evicted, the new "owners" occupied the land and took advantage of the assets, including crops and livestock. This continued until 2003, by then all 4,500+ commercial farms were gone which soon killed the country’s agricultural economy and 5 million Zimbabweans skilled and semi-skilled labors left the country to find jobs in neighboring SA, and other border countries. Supposedly the official goal was to divide the farms into hundreds of thousands of small plots for traditional communal black farmers. In reality, most land ended up in the hands of Mugabe’s political supporters and government officials, who had little interest or knowledge of farming. Mugabe blames Western conspiracies, racism, and continuous years of drought. When in fact the commercial farms had dams, water delivery systems, and vast tracts of well-irrigated land, essentially drought proof. He continues to beg United Nations and World Bank for foreign aid and gets it. They do need help but they also need a new President.
http://www.cato.org/zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is the first country in the 21st century to hyperinflate. Zimbabwe failed to break Hungary’s 1946 world record for hyperinflation. That said, Zimbabwe did race past Yugoslavia in October 2008. In consequence, Zimbabwe can now lay claim to second place in the world hyperinflation record books, and possibly break the record if Mugabe isn’t removed.
Should we be taking notes? Think about this! Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke (approved by both parties) flooded US economy when teetering on depression with trillions of dollars (stimulus/bailouts). Now Fed must shrink our balance sheet over the next 5 or 6 years. Soak up these bucks too fast and we stall back into the financial crisis Obama inherited, wait too long or continue printing money and risk crippling inflation. The big question is when will the government liquidate their debt-buying rescue programs? They need to unload $1.2 trillion in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities without sending mortgage rates sky high. They also need to dump $1.5 trillion in Treasury debt, without sending interest rates to Carter’s 21%. This could be more complicated than checkers! I do have faith in Bernanke, who’s magic has worked so far!
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