now that's inflation!

[d]

"Zimbabweans are struggling with inflation of more than 100,000 percent -- the highest in the world -- mass unemployment and shortages of meat, bread, fuel and other necessities."
(Zimbabwe court to rule on election results - Yahoo! News)

"In April 2008 the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued a ZWD 50,000,000 note, which is approximately worth 1.20 US dollars. Meanwhile inflation has surged to an estimated 165,000 percent with some unconfirmed reports putting the figure as high at 400,000 percent. The US ambassador to Harare has projected that inflation will soar to 1,500,000 percent by the end of 2008."
(Hyperinflation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

[Spanky]

Well, it's not hard to become a millionaire there.

 

[Leonardo]

The situation is really catastrophic there. Ten times worse of what happened here in Brazil several years ago.

 

[GoodSense]

When my dad was in Brazil in the 1980s, inflation was horrible. I often got letters from him for which the envelope was covered entirely in stamps. Since the stamps were several months old, the value had declined significantly, and there simply wasn't enough space on the envelope to glue all the required postage after a certain point. (Granted it was international mail, so more expensive than domestic)

I think the currency was replaced every few years by a new one, with the exchange rate of 1000 to 1.

I just found an online article, which provided this nice little summary:

Summary

1942 the cruzeiro becomes the currancy, replacing the old reis or mil reis.
1967 three zeros are dropped and the cruzeiro becomes the cruzeiro novo.
1970 the cruzeiro novo is renamed simply cruzeiro.
1986 three zeros are dropped and the cruzeiro becomes the cruzado.
1989 three more zeros are dropped and the cruzado becomes the cruzado novo.
1990 the cruzado novo is renamed the cruzeiro with no change in value.
1993 three zeros are dropped from the cruzeiro which becomes known as the cruzeiro real.
1994 the cruzero real is replaced by the real, worth 2.75 old cruzeiros reais.

INFLATION in BRAZIL

 

[Leonardo]

When my dad was in Brazil in the 1980s, inflation was horrible. I often got letters from him for which the envelope was covered entirely in stamps. Since the stamps were several months old, the value had declined significantly, and there simply wasn't enough space on the envelope to glue all the required postage after a certain point. (Granted it was international mail, so more expensive than domestic)

I think the currency was replaced every few years by a new one, with the exchange rate of 1000 to 1.

I just found an online article, which provided this nice little summary:

Summary

1942 the cruzeiro becomes the currancy, replacing the old reis or mil reis.
1967 three zeros are dropped and the cruzeiro becomes the cruzeiro novo.
1970 the cruzeiro novo is renamed simply cruzeiro.
1986 three zeros are dropped and the cruzeiro becomes the cruzado.
1989 three more zeros are dropped and the cruzado becomes the cruzado novo.
1990 the cruzado novo is renamed the cruzeiro with no change in value.
1993 three zeros are dropped from the cruzeiro which becomes known as the cruzeiro real.
1994 the cruzero real is replaced by the real, worth 2.75 old cruzeiros reais.

INFLATION in BRAZIL

Actually the inflation was high on the 80's and 1990 to 1995, not through the whole period 1940-1994. Here's a graph:

I still remember in the 90's going to a supermarket to buy some things... I forgot the money so I went back home. When I returned to the supermarket the price was already higher and the money was insufficient. Crazy times . Thankfully the politicians don't even discuss anymore the need to keep inflation at bay.