Great bargains available on Zimbabwe money

When we last dealt with Mugabe on this blog we learned that Zimbabweans have the world's shortest life expectancy. We also noted an interview with Al-Jazeera in which Mugabe claimed that Zimbabwe surpassed the US on the human rights front. So this isn't surprising. From the BBC:

People in Zimbabwe have been rushing to shops to spend their old banknotes before they cease to be legal tender at midnight on Monday.

Three weeks ago Zimbabwe adjusted its currency, removing three zeros from the values after years of high inflation . . .

Supermarket owners in the capital, Harare, reported that business was unusually brisk for a Monday morning, as people tried to spend their old cash.

There are also reports that buses and some shops were already refusing to accept the old notes on Monday, and that long queues were forming at banks as people tried to change their old money.

The new currency is intended to end the necessity of carrying bags of cash for even small purchases, and eliminate the multiple zeros that Zimbabweans have become used to seeing on price tags . . .

Critics say the measure does not tackle the underlying causes of Zimbabwe's inflation.

They accuse President Robert Mugabe of ignoring economic principles and trying to bribe voters by seizing productive white-owned farms to give to poor black families.

He maintains that Zimbabwe's economic woes are the result of a western plot intended to bring down his government.

Tags: Zimbabwe, Mugabe, hyper-inflation