I felt it was appropriate in this period of financial crisis to effer some amusing relics of past insolvency. How can you tell this typical writer hasn’t enough money to invest and looks forward to everyone joining him in the poorhouse?
Yugoslavia — 10 billion dinar, 1993
Zaire — 5 million zaires, 1992
Just notice how shifty looking some of the geezers pictured on the bills are. Would you want them in your wallet?
Turkey — 5 million lira, 1997
Brazil — 500 cruzeiros reais, 1993
Romania — 50,000 lei, 2001
And here is one that doesn’t even need a shifty face to look suspicious.
Zimbabwe — 100 trillion dollars, 2006
Now aren’t these a prize collection to take to the bank? Trouble is, you’d probably get thrown out onto the sidewalk. This is just a small selection of currencies that have failed in the past few decades.
What is my Realization from this? When you see the TV ads recently announcing that so and so company is at your local mall offering generous prices for your old and cast off jewelry you had better ROTFL and stay miles away. They are just collecting gold and silver that is going to look a lot better than these pretty pieces of paper when reality catches up to ignorance. And they will be the ones laughing all the way to the bank.
Rustic Realizations 