Look at Zimbabwe. Inflation is officially running at about 7,000% per year. But unofficial estimates say the rate for this year will turn out to be more like 100,000%. Marc visited Zimbabwe recently. He says he went out to buy a bottle of orange squash on Monday; it was 120,000 Zim dollars. On Tuesday, the [...]
October 15th, 2007 | Bill Bonner | 10 comments | ContinuedAfrica
Commentary on African economics, politics and society by your Daily Reckoning editors in Melbourne, Australia. Still haven’t subscribed to the Daily Reckoning? What are you waiting for… sign up here, it’s free!
A chronological listing of articles is below.
Zimbabwe Stock Market Booms as Economy Collapses
Zimbabwe is an economic hellhole. Inflation is running at 1,000s of percent per year… the economy is collapsing…and the stock market is actually going up faster than any in the world. But Zimbabwe is still worth looking at, because it reminds us of what wealth really is, and that - given the right circumstances - [...]
July 31st, 2007 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Reader Mail: China Buying African Resources, Boom Starts With Iraq War
How about some reader mail on Africa and Australia?
“Dear DR,
“Might be interesting to do a bit of a focus on China’s activity in Africa at the moment. Just as chock-a-block full of resources as Oz, but without pesky obstructions such as high labour costs, worker safety regulations and economic/political regulations.
“You could argue that a lot [...]
African Poverty, American Excess Prove Link Between Freedom and Wealth
“Africa is poor because she is not free,” said Dr Ayittey. We ran into George Ayittey this morning in the hallway here at Bally’s. He is speaking at the same conference as we are, on the relationship between freedom and wealth. It wasn’t the first time we’d met him, either.
“You probably don’t remember me,” we [...]
Zimbabwe Inflation Rate Tops 4,500% Per Year
Zimbabwe…what an exciting place!
The Zimbabwe inflation rate is now tops 4,500% per year. Naturally, stuff would be flying off the shelves as people rushed to get rid of it…if there were stuff on the shelves.
But that’s the trouble with inflation. At first, it fools people into thinking that there is more purchasing power. Factories churn [...]
Zimbabwe Stock Market Booms As Robert Mugabe Prints More Money
Money isn’t everything. We provide additional proof this morning by looking at a place with a lot of money - Zimbabwe. Nowhere on the entire planet is money piling up at a more rapid pace. The printing presses in that hellhole must be working around the clock. Consumer price inflation is increasing at an annual [...]
June 4th, 2007 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
China Tests Private Equity Waters With $3 Billion Blackstone Stake
Not that we are psychic, but this week gives us the creeps. For no good rational reason really. But reason doesn’t govern all aspects of the market. Intuition, hunches, chance…these things are arguably more important to sustain a bubble market than reasonable metrics like earnings, valuations, and trends. Frayed nerves are the sign of waning [...]
May 21st, 2007 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | Continued
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange “Benefits” from Austrian Economic Theory
Zimbabwe is in the middle of an economic disintegration, with GDP half of what it was in 2000, and declining for the seventh consecutive year. Ever since President Mugabe’s disastrous land-reform campaign (an entire article in itself), the country’s farming, tourism, and gold sectors have collapsed. Unemployment is said to be near 80%.
Yet the Zimbabwe [...]
Buying Gold in Zimbabwe As An Inflation Hedge
Chapter eight of Michael Panzner’s book, Financial Armageddon, is titled “Hyperinflation” and he opens the chapter with a quote from Robert Mugabe, the moron who has destroyed Zimbabwe by creating so much money that inflation is running at hundreds of percent per month. The quote is, “I will print money today so that people can [...]
April 3rd, 2007 | Mogambo Guru | 0 comments | Continued
Robert Mugabe: A Democratically Elected Dictator
“Zimbabwe sinks into hell of hyperinflation,” says the lead editorial in today’s Financial Times. You know the story already. Inflation is running at more than 1,700% in the country… and seems to be out of control.
Also out of control are Zimbabwe’s police, who rounded up protestors the other day - including the man who seems [...]
