Can You Break A Quadrillion ?

My South African friend, Prieur du Pleissis, shows us an insane check for a quadrillion and some odd change. Of course, its from Zimbabwe.

A quadrillion is a thousand trillion.

Zimbo

Previously:
Inflation, Zimbabwe Style  (June 2008)
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/06/inflation-zimba.html

Zimbabwe’s Million-Percent Inflation (July 2008)
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/07/headline-of-the.html

Z$100B Note (July 2008)
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/07/z100b-note.html

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What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:
  1. Bolddan commented on Sep 3

    And that was for a bagel and cream cheese with a cup of coffee. Not tip included.

  2. john commented on Sep 3

    Should you have his routing and account info there for all to see?

  3. David Silberberg commented on Sep 3

    And the paper its written on is worth more then the amount.

    *sigh*
    Don’t laugh to loud some homeowners are feeling the same way. The paper the note is written on is worth more then their house.

  4. Stuart commented on Sep 3

    I hope she was worth it……

  5. esb commented on Sep 3

    Zimbabwe should introduce a new currency, calling it the “Bernanke.”

  6. Real Estate Raj commented on Sep 3

    There is no way I could write a check that large without making a mistake.

  7. esb commented on Sep 3

    The motto on the Bernanke notes should be, “In Lies We Trust.”

  8. Concerned Citizen commented on Sep 3

    OK, we’ve been making fun of this for quite some time now…what’s the chances? Is it just because these countries are so removed from ours? Educate me please!

  9. DL commented on Sep 3

    Must be a boon to the export sector.

  10. MarkTX commented on Sep 3

    I like the fact that it is “not negotiable”. WTF???

    as for me

    I will take that all in pennys please…

  11. esb commented on Sep 3

    C C:

    When a society is willing to trade a small amount of immediate comfort for large dose of future pain, well,

    this is the ultimate destination.

  12. Robert Mugabe commented on Sep 3

    DO NOT LAUGH at my country, you peasants.

    I have brought big time prosperity to all by using your trinkle-down economics. My countrymen are all billionaires now, as well as having many wives and additionally chickens and cows.

    I am sorely misunderestimated just like your President Bush.

  13. mappo commented on Sep 3

    Next up: prices expressed using scientific notation.

  14. AB commented on Sep 3

    I’m working in South Africa and visited Zimbabwe back in March when a US dollar bought “only” 10 million Zim dollars. Our cab driver purchased some gasoline at a black market “petrol station,” which was just a ramshackle house from which emerged a young woman with a gallon jug full of gas.

  15. manhattanguy commented on Sep 3

    Reminds me of that scene from Austin Powers.

  16. esb commented on Sep 3

    mappo:

    And then you could “enhance” the rate of inflation by changing the base, say from 10 to 12.

  17. leftback commented on Sep 3

    This is actually quite topical, as I believe that we may be about to see a reversal of this long $ rally very soon.

    This has been a very long and extraordinarily strong move by the standards of the currency markets, so it would be very surprising if we did not see a counter-trend move in the near future. Sentiment is extremely bearish on the Euro and pound.

    Given that we saw the XLF bump up to 22 today, perhaps the bank rally may be done for the time being, and we are probably going to get a bounce in commodities before too long.

  18. Rob P. commented on Sep 3

    And today I see where Big Brother (USA) is sending a billion to Georgia! When is the F’N bailouts and subsidies going to stop! The only entity extending credit nowadays is the USA! I just can not believe the dollar is gaining in this crap! The USA is becoming subprime!

  19. Michael Donnelly commented on Sep 3

    From Bill Dunkleberg (NFIB)

    I posted his picture of a dinner bill for $1.2 billion today.

    of course that’s food, so maybe core inflation is still ok in Zimbabwe

  20. Alex commented on Sep 3

    This just makes me think of the $1b bill in Idiocracy that says “GETTIN PAID” on it

  21. Larry commented on Sep 3

    I love how it still includes two zeros for cents (or whatever they call their hundredths of a dollar).

    Heh, someone beat me to the scientific notation quip.

  22. yoganmahew commented on Sep 3

    The “only” at the end of the line is classic!

  23. the commented on Sep 3

    Interesting to see that Duly’s Ford is still around. Rhodesia was super.

  24. Stuart commented on Sep 3

    Not sure which is a bigger joke. That check or the neverending Lehman rumors. Can’t wait for the next one.

    NEWSFLASH: Mary jone’s Grandmother enters race for Lehman. CNBC picks up story and pumps Lehman shares for 7% on the day. Full story at 6:00.

    Almost numb to them now.

  25. Pat G. commented on Sep 3

    “The USA is becoming subprime!”

    This country is bankrupt several times over so we’re beyond subprime.

  26. BobC commented on Sep 3

    It boggles my mind that inflation can run so high. People in Zimbabwe must be heavily into in the black market. Bartering must be in play big time. How can anyone trust a transaction in that currency when in a few MINUTES the value of the currency has significantly changed? 1 million percent inflation is roughly 3000 percent per day. Or 100% per hour. More if you limit it to business hours.

  27. cyrus commented on Sep 3

    i have two 2 100,000 dollar bills from Zimbabwe a friend gave me. They expired the 31st of december 2006, they were issused June 1st, 2006.

  28. Pool Shark commented on Sep 3

    Somehow, a little Douglas Adams seems appropriate:

    “…the Triganic Pu has its own very special problems. Its exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu is simple enough, but since a Ningi is a triangular rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles along each side, no one has every collected enough to own one Pu. Ningis are not negotiable currency, because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in fiddling small change.”

  29. Darkness commented on Sep 3

    I just can not believe the dollar is gaining in this crap! The USA is becoming subprime!

    I think that actually is the trick tho… the U.S.’s devil is known. The Euro devil is still in the shadows, so money is just moving from uncertainty to certainty.

    1 million percent inflation is roughly 3000 percent per day.

    I’ve heard of places where the workers are paid twice a day and at lunch they meet their wives at the fence of the company and throw their pay over to the wife to go buy things. Anything, really. If you have a windfall you might buy a tv that you can barter later. But I don’t think that tactic would work in this case; still too much loss. I hope everyone is using barter, tragic to imagine their lives if they aren’t.

  30. Stuart commented on Sep 3

    Darkness, actually I would disagree that the U.S.’s devil is known. This is the reason for all the obfuscation, deceit and cover-up by regulators and every other power to be that has an influence over financial reporting in this land. They are collectively doing everything possible to kick the can down the road so it’s the problem of the next guy. The next guy will deal with everything that is off balance sheet. No, the financial oligarchy has been the exact opposite of forthcoming with their skeletons.

  31. raptor commented on Sep 4

    see what TNB leads to? no obongo in ’08

  32. Arno commented on Sep 4

    Great picture of the check. I also have some Weimar era multi-trillion dollar notes that I should scan in and share as a reminder.

    It’s not beyond the realm of possibilities that the United States will follow in Zimbabwe’s footsteps:
    http://www.geldpress.com/2008/07/zimbabwe-news-vs-us/

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