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What Happens When A Paper Currency Fails?

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Once upon a time there was a really nice country, Yugoslavia,but due to huge Economic and Religious problems, the country eventually was divided into smaller countries. Tito used to run the country successfully, balancing between the West and the East. It all worked well for Tito, who financed debt with printing money. Eventually, reality caught up, and Yugoslavia experienced one of the biggest Hyperinflation periods the World has ever seen. Sounds familiar?


Full Fiat Currency Map, click here.



From Thayer Watkins,


Under Tito, Yugoslavia ran a budget deficit that was financed by printing money.  This led to a rate of inflation of 15 to 25 percent per year.  After Tito, the Communist Party pursued progressively more irrational economic policies. These policies and the breakup of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia now consists of only Serbia and Montenegro) led to heavier reliance upon printing or otherwise creating money to finance the operation of the government and the socialist economy.  This created the hyperinflation.

By the early 1990s the government used up all of its own hard currency reserves and proceded to loot the hard currency savings of private citizens.  It did this by imposing more and more difficult restrictions on private citizens’ access to their hard currency savings in government banks.


The government operated a network of stores at which goods were supposed to be available at artificially low prices.  In practice these store seldom had anything to sell and goods were only available at free markets where the prices were far above the official prices that goods were supposed to sell at in government stores.  All of the government gasoline stations eventually were closed and gasoline was available only from roadside dealers whose operation consisted of a car parked with a plastic can of gasoline sitting on the hood.  The market price was the equivalent of $8 per gallon. Most car owners gave up driving and relied upon public transportation.  But the Belgrade transit authority (GSP) did not have the funds necessary for keeping its fleet of 1200 buses operating.  Instead it ran fewer than 500 buses.  These buses were overcrowded and the ticket collectors could not get aboard to collect fares.  Thus GSP could not collect fares even though it was desperately short of funds.

Delivery trucks, ambulances, fire trucks and garbage trucks were also short of fuel.  The government announced that gasoline would not be sold to farmers for fall harvests and planting.

Despite the government’s desperate printing of money it still did not have the funds to keep the infrastructure in operation.  Pot holes developed in the streets, elevators stopped functioning, and construction projects were closed down.  The unemployment rate exceeded 30 percent.


The government tried to counter the inflation by imposing price controls.  But when inflation continued, the government price controls made the price producers were getting so ridiculous low that they simply stopped producing.  In October of 1993 the bakers stopped making bread and Belgrade was without bread for a week.  The slaughter houses refused to sell meat to the state stores and this meant meat became unvailable for many sectors of the population.  Other stores closed down for inventory rather than sell their goods at the government mandated prices.  When farmers refused to sell to the government at the artificially low prices the government dictated, government irrationally used hard currency to buy food from foreign sources rather than remove the price controls.  The Ministry of Agriculture also risked creating a famine by selling farmers only 30 percent of the fuel they needed for planting and harvesting.

Later the government tried to curb inflation by requiring stores to file paperwork every time they raised a price.  This meant that many store employees had to devote their time to filling out these government forms.  Instead of curbing inflation this policy actually increased inflation because the stores tended to increase prices by larger increments so they would not have file forms for another price increase so soon.

In October of 1993 they created a new currency unit. One new dinar was worth one million of the “old” dinars.  In effect, the government simply removed six zeroes from the paper money. This, of course, did not stop the inflation.

In November of 1993 the government postponed turning on the heat in the state apartment buildings in which most of the population lived.  The residents reacted to this by using electrical space heaters which were inefficient and overloaded the electrical system.  The government power company then had to order blackouts to conserve electricity.


In a large psychiatric hospital 87 patients died in November of 1994.  The hospital had no heat, there was no food or medicine and the patients were wandering around naked.

Between October 1, 1993 and January 24, 1995 prices increased by 5 quadrillion percent.  This number is a 5 with 15 zeroes after it.  The social structure began to collapse. Thieves robbed hospitals and clinics of scarce pharmaceuticals and then sold them in front of the same places they robbed.  The railway workers went on strike and closed down Yugoslavia’s rail system.

The government set the level of pensions.  The pensions were to be paid at the post office but the government did not give the post offices enough funds to pay these pensions.  The pensioners lined up in long lines outside the post office.  When the post office ran out of state funds to pay the pensions the employees would pay the next pensioner in line whatever money they received when someone came in to mail a letter or package.  With inflation being what it was, the value of the pension would decrease drastically if the pensioners went home and came back the next day.  So they waited in line knowing that the value of their pension payment was decreasing with each minute they had to wait.


Many Yugoslavian businesses refused to take the Yugoslavian currency, and the German Deutsche Mark effectively became the currency of Yugoslavia.  But government organizations, government employees and pensioners still got paid in Yugoslavian dinars so there was still an active exchange in dinars.  On November 12, 1993 the exchange rate was 1 DM = 1 million new dinars.  Thirteen days later the exchange rate was 1 DM = 6.5 million new dinars and by the end of November it was 1 DM = 37 million new dinars.

At the beginning of December the bus workers went on strike because their pay for two weeks was equivalent to only 4 DM when it cost a family of four 230 DM per month to live.  By December 11th the exchange rate was 1 DM = 800 million and on December 15th it was 1 DM = 3.7 billion new dinars.  The average daily rate of inflation was nearly 100 percent. When farmers selling in the free markets refused to sell food for Yugoslavian dinars the government closed down the free markets.  On December 29 the exchange rate was 1 DM = 950 billion new dinars.

About this time there occurred a tragic incident.  As usual, pensioners were waiting in line. Someone passed by the line carrying bags of groceries from the free market.  Two pensioners got so upset at their situation and the sight of someone else with groceries that they had heart attacks and died right there.

At the end of December the exchange rate was 1 DM = 3 trillion dinars and on January 4, 1994 it was 1 DM = 6 trillion dinars.  On January 6th the government declared that the German Deutsche was an official currency of Yugoslavia.  About this time the government announced a NEW “new” Dinar which was equal to 1 billion of the old “new” dinars.  This meant that the exchange rate was 1 DM = 6,000 new new Dinars. By January 11 the exchange rate had reached a level of 1 DM = 80,000 new new Dinars.  On January 13th the rate was 1 DM = 700,000 new new Dinars and six days later it was 1 DM = 10 million new new Dinars.

The telephone bills for the government operated phone system were collected by the postmen.  People postponed paying these bills as much as possible and inflation reduced their real value to next to nothing.  One postman found that after trying to collect on 780 phone bills he got nothing so the next day he stayed home and paid all of the phone bills himself for the equivalent of a few American pennies.

Here is another illustration of the irrationality of the government’s policies:  James Lyon, a journalist, made twenty hours of international telephone calls from Belgrade in December of 1993.  The bill for these calls was 1000 new new dinars and it arrived on January 11th.  At the exchange rate for January 11th of 1 DM = 150,000 dinars it would have cost less than one German pfennig to pay the bill.  But the bill was not due until January 17th and by that time the exchange rate reached 1 DM = 30 million dinars.  Yet the free market value of those twenty hours of international telephone calls was about $5,000.  So despite being strapped for hard currency, the government gave James Lyon $5,000 worth of phone calls essentially for nothing.

It was against the law to refuse to accept personal checks.  Some people wrote personal checks knowing that in the few days it took for the checks to clear, inflation would wipe out as much as 90 percent of the cost of covering those checks.

On January 24, 1994 the government introduced the “super” Dinar equal to 10 million of the new new Dinars.  The Yugoslav government’s official position was that the hyperinflation occurred “because of the unjustly implemented sanctions against the Serbian people and state.” (Watkins)


Further mega Inflation periods, click here.



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Sat, 07/30/2011 - 22:22 | 1508750 Buck Johnson
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This will come to the US, but it will be alot more dangerous and violent.  Remember, the US is a violent place and we are an intolerant people.  And people like that shouldn't lose there feeling of networth.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 19:32 | 1508437 Gromit
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Just buy some Fannie Mae common....FNMA.OB @33c, wait for it to go back to $100 x inflation rate.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 18:56 | 1508361 upWising
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To hell with Rare Earths.....go long on Zero's.  It's where the growth is going to be.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 18:51 | 1508360 upWising
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RE...Living IN and THROUGH Nicaragua's Hyperinflation of the late 1980's:

Prices would sometimes double from the morning to the afternoon. Most everything was out of reach for the vast majority of the population. Those who held U.S. dollars lived like kings since the average MONTHLY wage was under $10...that's right -->ten dollars a month.

Money ITSELF was the biggest shortage....they just couldn't IMPORT the printed money fast enough to keep up so "pay packets" would include IOU's and all manner of "negotiable" pieces of paper.  No matter what, you would run out and spend it as fast as you could (on food) because it would loose it's purchasing power as you waited in line.  Edible food was far more valuable than money.  Beans, rice, etc were like gold.  One single bottle of local beer was equivalent to my weekly salary (US$ 2 / week for teaching school full time.)  Price rises would be on the order of this: bus fares (if you could GET ON a bus) rose from C$100 (one hundred córdobas) to C$5000(five THOUSAND córdobas) from one day to the next. Very quickly, nothing surprises you and you just shrug and curse under your breath (or loudly in many cases) and try to ignore the hunger pangs in your stomach, and the darkness on the streets as infrastructure collapses quickly.

GROWTH INDUSTRY was ZERO's.  That's right; the number ZERO was the fastest growing part of the economy.  As we walked to work (the few buses that ran were loaded 300%-400% capacity) I would point to trucks which I claimed were carrying full loads of ZEROs out to the stores to add to the price of everything.  The numbers just got longer and longer until it became comical. 

THEN CAME "CURRENCY REFORM."  This meant you stood in a 5-hour line at the bank to turn in your old currency for a "receipt." Several days later another 5-hour line when you would retrieve "revalued currency" which was the same paper stuff, but which in the interim had been stamped with magic symbols and had holes punched in it.  This meant that three or six ZEROs had been lopped off (and returned to the Warehouses for recycling...which happened VERY fast.)  Before you knew it the "reformed prices" were right back where they had been.

It is very dis-spiriting but I can tell you it totally clarifies the value of FIAT CURRENCY as being nothing more than colored pieces of paper. I have long maintained that the only thing holding the "American Union" together is the American Dollar so we can all see where this seems to all lead. It really does radicalize people very quickly and any "faith in the system" held by the population evaporates with each round of price increases. 

Now before you go slamming the Nicaraguan Commies for ruining the economy, please understand that the hyperinflation was purposely instigated by US aggression (mining of Nicaraguan harbors, untold "dirty tricks" in ruining infrastructure....water and sewage treatment, highway bridges, etc. etc. etc.) and caused unimaginable suffering amongst the the hard-working Nicaraguan people.  [This was all sold to clueless North Americans as "necessary for National Security" because the second-poorest nation in the hemisphere, populated by fewer than five million people, the majority of whom were severely malnourished and barely able to read or write, somehow posed a looming threat to U.S. hegemony.]

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 20:25 | 1508532 Gromit
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Did you enjoy your time in Nicaragua?

I stayed 5 weeks in Esteli (heroico) October/November '86.  Hasenfuss (CIA)  was shot down and arrested while I was there.

The people were very excited, I rememeber attending a meeting where the parents discussed the school curriculum going forward. Yes the currency devalued 60% while I was there, I still have a 20 cordoba note with 1.000,000 stamped on it. It was pretty easy to trade dollar on the black market for 4 x official rate.

People had plenty to eat if you call "gallo pinto" food. = rice and black beans. I basically lived o  potatos and rum, lost about 25 lbs while i was in country.

I lived with a Nicaraguan family, shared a dirt floor room with two teenage boys who hung their AK 47s on hooks on the bedroom wall. No I don't want to touch it thank you. Not quite sure what I would have done if there had been an invasion, cooperatewd with my hosts in as non-combative fashion as possible I expect.

Still celebrate July 19th. No se rinde nadie!

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 17:40 | 1508246 HungrySeagull
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Anyone recall the great Health Care debate when it took a Pallet and a team of strong people to deliver the bill in it's massive monolithich glory from chamber to chamber and around town?

Scratch that. It's going to manifest itself in train loads of cotton and green ink shipped east and bills due shipped west nationwide.

Has anyone seen a single peice of paper that contains other than a few sentences and a assigned number?

Bueller, Bueller?


Optimus Prime, thanks for the correction I got carried away.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 17:23 | 1508216 Anonymouse
Anonymouse's picture

This was a great summary of how unintended consequences affect the real world.  Everyone's natural reaction to irrational govenment policies rendered each policy ineffective at best, and counter-productive in most cases.  Really makes the situation more understandable.  Well done.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 17:24 | 1508214 Anonymouse
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Hmmm. Edit seems to create a double (now triple?) post

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 17:09 | 1508199 indio007
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Bitcoin for the win!

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 16:06 | 1508130 mess nonster
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OK- since the comments have drifted onto the shoals of religion, etc, I will give a shove in the hopes the whole thread will go tumbling over the edge...

Quick Bible study of 666:

1.Solomon received 666 talents of gold as TRiBUTE (taxes) from conquered territories. A talent is something between 20 and 50 lbs. A shit-load of gold, by any standard.

Takehome: 666 is related to money. (sigh) Gold is money.

2. Solomon built a throne of solid ivory. On one side were six lions, and on the other side were six lions. In between the lions were 6 steps. 666, simple. Solomon sat on the seventh level, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, etc. Seven is God's #, 6 is man's # (Created on the 6th day). Solomon ruled the known world at the time, from Greece to Yemen, the Coast of East Africa, and all the way to the Indus Valley.

Take home: 666 is related to global domination, one world gov't, and indirectly, to man placing himself blasphemously upon the throne of God.

3.Fast fwd to another world empire despot, Nebuchadnezzar. He built a statue that was 60 cubits tall (90 feet- by contrast the Staue of Liberty from sole of foot to top of head, excluding outstetched arm, is 111'1" tall), and 6 cubits wide. At the sound of six musical instuments, everyone had to bow down and worship the statue. There you have it, 666, if you exclude the zero in 60 cubits, permissable under Biblical rules of numerology.

Take home: 666 must in some way compel by force the individual's conscience regarding spiritual matters.

These are the only references to 666 in the Bible other than the reference in Revelation. All of Revelation is a reference to some other passage in the Old Testament. It cannot be uderstood outside of a Biblical Context.

Economic 666: The dollar bill is encrusted with masonic symbols, and with various and numerous symbols that reduce to 666. If you look at other curriencies, none are as encrusted with 666 as the dollar bill. Based on this fact alone, it may be suggested that the dollar will manifest as the monetary aspect of 666. This implies that talk of the dollar's demise is greatly exaggerated. A new global dollar is not an impossibility.

The political aspect of 666 is yet to be revealed, but the economic crisis will not be contained, as the article shows, by issuing a new currency. The economic crisis is global, and based on Peak Oil. Simplistic to say, but there are only two options, a) relative anarchy and atomiization into units of local goveranance, or b) a global command economy with global central planning, and global central governance. Just because it won't work does not mean it cannot be attempted.

The spiritual compulsion aspects of 666 will likely be the last implemented, and may only come about as a result of some sort of fearsome natural calamity - an asteroid hit or something of like magnitude. My only comment on this matter will be that the true God of love never forces the conscience, but draws by the power of love and mercy. A compelling force is the agency of a dark and counterfeit spiritual power.

There you have it! I don't post Bible references because i'm lazy. Please buy a Strong's concordance and do your own homework. Thank you for reading.



Sat, 07/30/2011 - 16:55 | 1508180 AldousHuxley
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Sat, 07/30/2011 - 20:01 | 1508494 zerozulu
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I think circumstances are different This time.

Contrary to American expectations, Afghan war did not end in 3 months. Jewish lobby was too obsessed with Pakistan's nukes that they completely fail to realize the Chinese economic monster. No war of any type what so ever can bring economic turn around in our domestic economy. We have check-mate

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 19:14 | 1510766 AldousHuxley
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Here is the playbook from world history...


when in debt, institute war time economy by

  1. convince the population AND the rich that we need to go to war when in fact it is just another government excuse for spending(tax increase are not popular)
  2. print money to fund war machine building which produces jobs
  3. use war machines to steal foreign natural resources  from puppet governments you control to back up printed fiat currency
  4. use technological innovations from defense R&D and allow industry to license them for monetization and consumption


I guarantee you, US will go to war with IRAN. We ar actually at war already with them in Iraq when iraqi government sold US out to Iranian + China influence

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 15:38 | 1508094 Conax
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 oops, sorry.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 15:39 | 1508093 Conax
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Being fairly well-read, I am surprised at the 'revelation' of this hyper-inflation in old Yugoslavia.

I'm impressed with the power of the media to inform us only what they want us to know. Their control (prior to the internet) over information was nearly absolute. No wonder they hate the new media.

Honestly, I never read of this anywhere before.


Great post, BTW, Thank you.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 14:52 | 1508024 zorba THE GREEK
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One thing I've learned about history is that the motives are always the same. It's always about greed and power.

And you can be sure that looting has already begun. 

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 13:56 | 1507936 PulauHantu29
PulauHantu29's picture

Bill Fleckenstein's newsletter at Money Central MSN today is insightful:

"Owe, yes we can

Government spending, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, has risen to 37% of gross domestic product from 27% in 1960. According to projections used by the bureau, that would rise to 50% by 2038. Obviously, that is not going to happen, but apparently that is the path we are on.

As for taxes, the Tax Foundation reported that from 1986 through 2009 (the most recent year for which data are available), the share of federal income tax paid by the top 5% of income earners rose from 43% to 59%, while those who paid zero income tax or were net recipients of income from the government rose from 18.5% to 51%.

These statistics are important, because the numbers are not sustainable, and obviously the 51% majority is not going to be inclined to have its taxes raised. While one can easily argue that many people who make a lot of money could pay more, you are not going to be able to balance the budget on the back of the top 5% of earners in this country, or any other small subset."

cont at:


Sun, 07/31/2011 - 11:40 | 1509752 Temporalist
Temporalist's picture

Always like Fleckenstein's insight and honest reality.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 21:57 | 1508688 sasebo
sasebo's picture

You conviently forgot to tell us what % of total US income the 5% takes. 

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 12:27 | 1507780 Bicycle Repairman
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It is good to see real world examples of fiat meltdown.  We all need to understand this topic at a personal level.  Let's have more.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 13:32 | 1507894 Ahmeexnal
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German banks engineered the Weimar nightmare and looted their own people.

German banks also engineered the looting and destruction of Yugoslavia.

They are now doing the same to the US and the rest of the world.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 20:05 | 1508502 zerozulu
zerozulu's picture

I completely missed. Since when are Afghans called German?

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 19:41 | 1508454 So Close
So Close's picture

Yep.. Those damn Germans made us spend all that money we didn"t have.  It is there fault.    Shut up.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 11:38 | 1509743 Temporalist
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Didn't you know the Germans made the U.S. default on their gold, even though much of the German gold is in U.S. vaults, and that it was the Germans who made the FRN the global reserve currency.  They also expanded the military of the US since Vietnam, made health insurance premiums skyrocket, made education much more expensive, created the dotcom boom and bust, created Fannie and Freddie and then the housing collapse, they even developed and produced Jersey Shore, Housewives of wherever, American Idol, and every vapire movie and TV show around.


Sat, 07/30/2011 - 11:23 | 1507670 DosZap
DosZap's picture

Whatever form the MARK takes, you will be far better off (eternally) for refusing it, you will not be able to buy or sell,nor get a job.Also, if you refuse you will be murdered.Taking the Mark is giving allegiance to the AC (Beast).

The future is available for all who will read it, and believe.As even the most staunch unbelievers will be forced to see the truth, albeit likely too late.While you still have life in this tent of flesh we call a body, you have a chance to believe and be saved.

As an aside, after being part of this disaster unfolding, I believe time is growing really short,to think otherwise is foolish, and people are solely in denial.

Never in history have all these signs come together at once,never in history has the world been so closely knitted together, and suffering the same fates.

Think about it,coincidence?, nope.....................master plan, yep.


Sat, 07/30/2011 - 20:30 | 1508541 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

DosZap, I gave you No. 6 green.

No doubt about it, things seem moving ever faster to the final denouement...

Done some preparation?  Great do more.  You will need it.

Not done any?  Good luck, maybe you will make it if you start now and the scenario that unfolds is one the relatively benign ones.  I do not think we are going to have one of the benign ones however...

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 11:12 | 1507653 Setarcos
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OK Thayer Watkins, San Jose.

Guess that makes him an expert on Europe.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 11:27 | 1507674 sun tzu
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There are these things called books and this new invention called the internet. You use those as tools to gather information. That's why there are professors of European and Asian history at American colleges. I don't think anyone alive ever lived through the Civil War, but there are many experts on the Civil War.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 11:31 | 1507681 Setarcos
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Take your point sun.

I over-reacted ... and some apologies are due, not least to "the trader".

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 11:28 | 1507645 Setarcos
Setarcos's picture

From whence did this article spring?

At one and the same time it is too complicated and too simplistic.

Did "the trader" live through the Cold War era, when Tito's Yugoslavia was "the meat in the sandwich" between the USSR and the USA (yes I deliberately allude to competition between empires)?

In any case I am inclined to doubt that "the trader" did not live during that era and so is cherry-picking low fruit to argue for his pre-formed premis.

Oh "the trader" is just pasting Thayer Watkins, whoever that 'guru' is/was.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 11:34 | 1507684 sun tzu
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Sat, 07/30/2011 - 10:35 | 1507603 falak pema
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the greatest attribute of serbia is to produce women who can make love for days on end. Lovely place to swim in the nude. Nostalgia is not a cure but a crutch to walk on...unless you write novels and can put it inside a work that outlives your carnal urge, your very biological surge, all with good poetic licence. The irrepressible lightness of being....

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 12:47 | 1507819 falak pema
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damn I only got three


Sat, 07/30/2011 - 11:48 | 1507708 HungrySeagull
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Evidently they have not tried to run with American truckers who can go for week and change without stopping.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 10:23 | 1507593 eddiebe
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Damn that beast! Then what will I do with my gold and silver?

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 10:20 | 1507589 mailll
mailll's picture

I read in the Book of Revelation that eventually, everyone will be forced to take the mark of the beast either on our hand or forehead. No one will be able to buy of sell without it.  If you look at todays world and the progress it is making with miniature electronics, and all the news we are hearing that a one world currency is to be established, then it only stands to reason that all currency will be digitized. No more cash, no more credit cards.  Just a microchip inplanted into our hand or forehead which is scannable. Under this system, no one will be able to buy or sell without it.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 10:38 | 1507604 mayhem_korner
mayhem_korner's picture

You're referring to Revelation 13:16-18.

While I don't claim to know the correct interpretation of the mark of the beast - and there are thousands out there -  I suggest it is unlikely that the microchip idea is correct.  My reasoning is that evil works in stealth.  Something as blatant as inserting chips into people would be too obvious an identifier and effectively validate the Revelation passage.  A retinal scan (forehead) and fingerprint id requirement as a mandate would be far more subtle, but I personally don't believe the "forehead" and "right hand" are literal.  I personally believe the reference is to a one-world currency of some form, but I leave it to be unveiled in time.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 19:44 | 1508460 So Close
So Close's picture

Right...  evil works in stealth.   Like...  "All Jews are bad and are in need of a final solution."   Evil does indeed not work in stealth.   It works in lies.  As in... Father of....

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 13:53 | 1507931 Libertarian777
Libertarian777's picture

Not sure why the conversation has turned religious all of a sudden the past few days but as far as scanning technology goes, NFC (near field communication) is the next step. Don't have to swipe your card or phone, just need to take it within 2" of the scanner.

Talking about the tinfoil brigade it's already here. There are steel mesh passport holders that prevent the RFID chip in your passport from being scanned. Soon you'll need one for your wallet and phone.

Whatever your religious beliefs are, enabling the government to track where we are, what we buy and how much we buy cannot be a good thing.

Cash may be where it's at, but have you ever tried to pay with a $50 bill let alone a $100 bill? What's the first thing a cashier does? Check it for authenticity. Already that implies there is no faith in the note, and the only reason they accept the $20 is because it would be inconvenient to check every transaction.

This is how the world works. You cannot come as a dictator and impose your will. People will revolt. Instead over time you slowly gain acceptance. A lot of dictators were voted into power, hitler, Chavez, Saddam, Karzai, etc.,

Another example is the patriot act. It had been around for a number of years but could never reach the floor to get voted on. Post 9/11 it's passed without a second thought. People vote their own liberties away.

Not sure if I subscribe to the false flags per se, but I do agree that there most politicians position themselves and wait for the next opportunity to grab more power. TARP, stimulus bill, homeland security,
Libya are examples. Now there is talk of expanding the POTUS' power through the 14th amendment. Once the president's office can do that you have a de facto dictatorship, since the president can declare war unilaterally, fund it through debt ceiling raise, issue his own money via the treasury, and nominate the supreme court justices who will uphold any challenges to his office

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 11:31 | 1509727 Temporalist
Temporalist's picture

They check the $20 FRN debt paper now everywhere too...

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 15:12 | 1508057 goodrich4bk
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Libertarian777, please read the Constitution again.  Only the House can initiate a spending bill.  The President and Senate have no power to spend unless and until the House approves.  This "power of the purse" was given to the House because the House most closely represents the "people" and their present desires (because of two year terms for the entire House).  Ergo, if we are spending to much, blame the House.  And don't worry about a President unilterally raising the debt ceiling so he can fund his own war.  The ceiling just prevents the issuance of new debt.  Raising it does not authorize new spending.


Sat, 07/30/2011 - 18:00 | 1508264 pvzh
pvzh's picture

please read the Constitution again.

Since when the Constitution became an impediment for political expediency? What does the Constitution say about money, and what is the actual practice? What does the Constitution say about taxes, and what is the actual practice? The Constitution is just "god damn piece of paper" (do not remember who said that; some recent american politician).

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 11:01 | 1507630 mailll
mailll's picture

Evil does work in stealth, I agree 100 percent.  But this is why they call it the Book of Revelation. God is telling us what is going to happen (if we can interpret it correctly). Our problem is we don't believe it.  But what I said is probably true, and it probably isn't true, but everything is pointing in that direction. We all love the convenience of using a credit card instead of cash, it is easier, and now there are some places where you don't even have to sign after a transaction, which makes it even easier. If my interpretation is correct, then what scares me is Revelation 14:9-11.  I do hope I am interpreting this wrong..But only the future will reveal the truth to all of us as to the real meaning of this Mark of the Beast.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 16:06 | 1508129 delacroix
delacroix's picture

revelation, was the vision of john. it's john, telling what he interpreted, through a dream he had, which makes it hard to take the leap of assumption, that it's god  telling us anything . ever heard the term, self fulfilling prophecy?

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 15:19 | 1508067 mayhem_korner
mayhem_korner's picture

I commend you for keeping a lookout.  There are lots of theories about the mark, I don't profess to know the right one, or even if it's been correctly ID'd.  I've heard the chip talk for a long time; I just don't happen to be convinced of it despite the obvious technological capability that exists.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 20:22 | 1508420 A Lunatic
A Lunatic's picture

To all who seek the Truth (regarding the proper interpretation of the mark of the Beast) the following link will bring clarification to your dilemma. For further study Author, speaker and apologist Hank Hanegraff of the Christian research institute is an excellent resource. There are many others, however this man is genuine, reasonable, and well versed in the proper interpretation of the Christian doctrine. Many of you take issue with religion. I say rightfully so and we are in agreement. Christianity and religion are worlds apart. Seek and you will find.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 21:32 | 1508630 mayhem_korner
mayhem_korner's picture

Good post - thanks.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 11:17 | 1507664 Setarcos
Setarcos's picture

I hate it when religious nutters comment.

Alex Jones provides a platform for that stuff.

I thought I had got away from it with Zero Hedge.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 23:17 | 1511434 Anonymouse
Anonymouse's picture

It is a shame you feel the need to insult people who generally are on your side on most issues....

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 18:45 | 1508345 GOSPLAN HERO
GOSPLAN HERO's picture

Are you a demon?
