Re: OT: the euro & 01.01.02 (was NATLANG/FONT:)
| From: | Padraic Brown <agricola@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, December 22, 2001, 3:43 |
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Am 21.12.01, Nik Taylor yscrifef:
> Matthew Kehrt wrote:
> >
> > I seem to be the only one in the world in favor of keeping pennies. It
> > seems silly to have the smallest coin be worth 5 units and have all
> > other denominations multiples of this. It would make more sense to
> > redefine the value of pennies to be five times their face value and work
> > up from there. (Easier said than done, of course.)
>
> So, the dollar would become worth five of today's dollars? Essentially
> cutting prices by 80%? Why?
It makes sense as inflation rises rapidly. Latin American
countries are famous for revaluing currencies this way.
Turkey did one recently; Russia has done a couple since
the late 80s. Italy will be doing one in about a week.
One day you have 50.000.000 cuatros in your pocket; next
day they get exchanged at 500.000:1 and the teller gives
you 100 nuevos pistoles. Your grandfather probably remembers
when the cuatro bought a thousand old reales. It doesn't
make much sense for us because the dollar has been so strong
and stable for so long, and its slide in value has been so
slow.
Padraic.
--
Bethes gwaz vaz ha leal.
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