Inflation Gone Berserk

As high as our inflation has reached lately (we've just punched through 11%), it sometimes takes the woes of other people to help us put some perspective in things. As a case in point, take this article in Yahoo which details the inflation crisis being faced by Zimbabwe. Prices there have rocketed so fast that their central bank has had to create a 100-BILLION dollar note. Take a few moments to go through that figure... 100 BILLION dollars. And this is just shortly after they just released a 500 MILLION dollar note.

To better put this into perspective, at the rate their prices are rising, it's very much like having the prices of everything you buy at least DOUBLING within a SINGLE DAY. (And we complain about the weekly gas price hikes.) Try creating a budget or financial plan for that situation.

I guess my main point here is that while, yes, things have gotten bad lately, a lot of it can still be overcome with a little belt-tightening and some creativity in finding substitutes for certain goods and services. On my end, I've rediscovered the joys of walking short to medium distances while a close friend has gone into biking. If nothing else, our current economic crisis might just improve the fitness levels of a lot of couch potatoes like me.