With all the troubles in the financial markets these days, we thought we'd take a trip down memory lane (not our memory of course) and remind everyone that there are bad times, and there are really bad times.
Greece (1944-1953)
During the German occupation of Greece (1941 to 1944), the monthly inflation rate peaked at 8.55 billion percent in 1944. Prices doubled every 28 hours. In 1943, the highest denomination was 25,000 drachmai. By 1944, the highest denomination was 100,000,000,000,000 drachmai. In the 1944 currency reform, 1 new drachma was exchanged for 50,000,000,000 drachmai. Another currency reform in 1953 replaced the drachma at an exchange rate of 1 new drachma = 1,000 old drachma. The overall impact of hyperinflation: 1 (1953) drachma = 50,000,000,000,000 pre-1944 drachmai.
DF: Try to wrap your head around those numbers and you'll understand why a boat ticket to anywhere outside of Greece seemed like a pretty good option at the time. A little more than half a century later and the game has completely changed.
DollarDaze
posted on Thursday, January 24