Hungary's Needy Given Money to Burn 95
Knowing that ideas are a dime a dozen and eager to think outside the box, Hungary's central bank is burning old currency to help the needy. The bank has found that the 40-50 tons of currency that needs to be burned every year is a blessing in disguise for people caught between a rock and a hard place due to the extreme cold sweeping across Europe.
Re:Yeah...thanks, I guess (Score:5, Informative)
FWIW... (Score:4, Informative)
FWIW, this is apparently about destroying old worn out bills, a routine practice, as opposed to inflation gone wild
Re:Shades of Depression-era Germany (Score:5, Informative)
Not really a great analogy.
Firstly, any government can build a mandate partially on dubious slogans. There's already plenty of people in the US who want compensation against the ills brought onto them by conspiring bankers, so a party that adopted that mandate would probably be radical, but at least get some votes.
Secondly, just because the fellas are burning money doesn't mean they are burning money like Germany. Any central bank destroys money each year when the money is too old to use. Bills deteriorate, become obsolete due to no security features etc. Hungary's inflation has been around 3-4% for several years so no need to fear hyperinflation just yet.