Hyperinflation - It Could Happen HERE Next - Zimbabweans get 1 new dollar for 35 QUADRILLION old dollars

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabweans will start exchanging 'quadrillions' of local dollars for a few U.S. dollars next week, as President Robert Mugabe's government discards its virtually worthless national currency, the central bank said on Thursday.

The southern African country started using foreign currencies like the U.S. dollar and South African rand in 2009 after the Zimbabwean dollar was ruined by hyper-inflation, which hit 500 billion percent in 2008.

From Monday, customers who held Zimbabwean dollar accounts before March 2009 can approach their banks to convert their Zimbabwean dollar balance into dollars, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor John Mangudya said in a statement.

The process will legally end the local currency. Zimbabweans have until September to turn in their old bank notes, which some people sell as souvenirs to tourists.

Bank accounts with balances of up to 175 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars will be paid $5. Those with balances above 175 quadrillion dollars will be paid at an exchange rate of $1 to 35 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars.

The highest - and last - bank note to be printed by the RBZ in 2008 was 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars. It was not enough to ride a public bus to work for a week.

Full article HERE *************** All it takes is massive spending, massive debt, and a loss of faith in the government's ability to pay.... and a shift AWAY from US Dollars could begin.  I have already traveled overseas for decades and seen places that preferred US dollars in my youth REFUSE to accept them. Could it happen here?  You betcha.  Especially with a Marxist leader trying to spend us into economic collapse on purpose.