There are cash-strapped governments and there are broke governments. And then there’s Zimbabwe, which, after paying last week’s government salaries, has just $217 left in the bank. No, we didn’t forget any zeroes to the end of that figure. Zimbabwe, the country that’s home to some of the world’s largest platinum and diamond reserves, literally has the same financial standing as a 14-year-old girl after a really good birthday party.
when President Robert Mugabe seized the land of over 4,000 white-owned farmers
Sounds a lot like what happened to Spain’s economy after they expelled the Muslims and Jews who were the heart of the economy at the time, roughly prior to the Spanish Inquisition.
They were convinced that expelling these people would lead to new prosperity for all true spaniards. Man what a shock they got.
Pretty soon government officials were sending armed guards to retrieve bread from bakeries, and finally Spain had to invite other rulers to come take over.
