# What does it mean to have 168,000% inflation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-have-168-000-inflation/451576 "2008-06-03T02:34:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-have-168-000-inflation/451576/61 "2008-06-04T12:23:14Z")
What hyperinflation is in essence, is a massive transfer of wealth from wage earners to debt holders. If you own a factory, your debta are effectively erased. If You are a wage earner with a savings bank account, your savings have been stolen from you. This is actually how Germany rearmed in the 1920’s-the hyperinflation wioed out the middle class, and made the asset-owners (industrialists) fabulously rich. ---
**Author:** ![mazinger\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mazinger\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazinger_z)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-have-168-000-inflation/451576/62 "2008-06-04T14:26:20Z")
[QUOTE=WF Tomba] Taking the goods outright (in limited, prescribed quantities for each government employee) is exactly what I’m proposing. The government would no longer be dumping currency on the market. (They could also stop collecting taxes.) Currency would only be used for private enterprise. There’d be a lot less of it around, so its value would rise. [/QUOTE] This would send a strong signal to the market that the government is effectively abandoning its currency. Also, collecting taxes is a strong incentive to keep the currency going despite hyperinflation. This might delay the inflation, but ultimately government taking goods and presumably services will send no price signal to the market and it will effectively look like jurisidictional theft. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-have-168-000-inflation/451576/63 "2008-06-04T16:25:47Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d be happy to accept wagers on whether the United States inflation rate will exceed 1,000% at any time during the next ten years. Don’t confuse unlikely with impossible. > [@](#): > > Yes we do, every 2 years. And with the House being to originators of all money bills, it is safe to assume that they will all be voted out unless for some bizarre reason Americans start believing that the President somehow controls the budget . . . but that will never happen. We Americans know our Constitution from beginning to end. I’m aware of how the Constitution works and when elections are scheduled. And what I said is correct - there’s no recall system. A regularly scheduled election in two years is not a recall. Hyperinflation is a crisis that has to be handled quickly. If your doctor told you your tests had come back and you had cancer, would you want him to follow this up by telling you he was going to start chemotherapy sometime in the next two years? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-have-168-000-inflation/451576/64 "2008-06-04T16:28:36Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Don’t confuse unlikely with impossible. [/quote] I don’t. That’s why I said “extremely unlikely” in post#47. By the way, if I lose, I’ll pay off in bullion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-have-168-000-inflation/451576.md?page=3)