I'm now a billionaire!

Well actually I'm being a little modest with the title. I'm now a hundred billionaire!

What's my stategy? Whose self-help book did I read?

Quite simple really. I went onto ebay and searched for "Zimbabwe Dollar" and found a Z$100bn note from 2008 going for £3.99.

That's an exchange rate of Z$25bn : £1. Gordon Brown's strong pound policy against the ZWD is clearly reaping dividends!

This might seem amusing but the human and economic story of Zimbabwe is horrific. It demonstrates that fiscal incontinence and money printing is never a good solution to problems. Zimbabwe used to be a net exporter in agriculture but why bother producing things to generate cash when the government just prints masses of money out of thin air? Now this industry (and practically every other) is in ruin.

I'll keep the bank note as a momento of grand folly and keep my fingers crossed that we don't go down the same route!

PS Guess which country had the best performing stock market in 2007?? That's right.... Zimbabwe! It grew by an impressive 322111%. I can't find the figures for 2008 because of the problems associated with the currency having to be reset TWICE due to hyperinflation....