Via the BBC: US says Zimbabwe change is afoot
Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation will force President Robert Mugabe from power, the US ambassador to the country has said.Speaking to a UK newspaper, Christopher Dell predicted that inflation will leap to 1.5m% by the end of the year.
He said political discontent at Mr Mugabe’s “disastrous economic policies” meant Zimbabwe was “committing regime change upon itself”.
Zimbabwe has 80% unemployment and independent economists say inflation is running at 11,000% per year.
We shall see. If there was ever a case where one would think that material conditions would lead to a popular uprising, those described above would seem to fit the bill. Of course, it isn’t as if hideous daily living circumstances tend to result in such actions. Indeed, when life is that bad people are mostly focused on survival, not political change.
Mugabe strikes me as the type of dictator who will only be gone when he is dead–and thusfar he has been quite good at staying alive and in power.
Still, the numbers cited above are staggering.
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 am
Zimbabwe- A case of wishful thinking
No question, the economy of Zimbabwe is in a shambles. That doesn’t necessarily mean internal change will happen.
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Dr. Taylor,
Is there a point where inflation is high enough to effectively render currency useless? At 1500% per year why would a person accept cuuency when it will be worth 4% less per day?
Will economies adapt by bartering goods and other methods of trade, could they switch to a foreign currency that is stable? The effects on the economy are obviously beyond what we have ever experienced in the United States.