Weimar- crisis of 1923- BBC.co.uk

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To put the severity of the hyperinflation that existed in Germany around 1923, this article used a few examples of just how bad the situation was.  The hyperinflation directly resulted from the frivolous printing of money, while its value began to drop.  The following is a list of a few of the outcomes that directly resulted from this:

• People collected their wages in suitcases
• One person, who left their suitcase unattended, found that a thief had stolen the suitcase but not the money (likely because the suitcase was worth much more than the money itself)
• One boy, who was sent to buy two bread buns, stopped to play football and by the time he got to the shop, the price had gone up, so he could only afford to buy one
• One father set out for Berlin to buy a pair of shoes. When he got there, he could only afford a cup of coffee and the bus fare home
• Many people affected by the hyperinflation, found it more efficient to burn the money for heat in their fireplaces rather than buying the wood to place into them, just because of the pure lack of value on the money

All of these examples, along with others that hindered any progress of the people in Germany around this time, show how severe hyperinflation.  While not very common, hyperinflation is still a very important economic topic that should not be ignored.  The more that people can learn from its effects throughout history, the less likely it is to happen in the future.

Commanding Heights: The German Hyperinflation, 1923- PBS.org

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This article looks back at the epidemic of hyperinflation and its impacts on Germany in the early twentieth century.  After World War I, Germany had been defeated, and as a result, its country's economy was left in shambles.  The value of the German mark, as it does in other places victimized by hyperinflation, had dropped to next to nothing.  To put this into perspective, before this situation, the German, French, and British monetary units all had a similar exchange rate, which was at about four or five units to one U.S. dollar.  After the war, one U.S. dollar was approximately equivalent to one trillion German marks.  As stated in the article, a wheelbarrow full of money could not even buy a newspaper, let alone any vital goods needed in everyday life.  Eventually, the onset of this serious situation, along with an unstable government, and a defeated country as a whole, would become one of the factors that resulted in Hitler's rise to power, and the rest is history.

While this was one of the more dramatic examples of hyperinflation throughout history, it remains one of the best examples of the topic.  When a country faces these severe situations, there must be quick reactions by the central government to help lessen the damages.  Unfortunately, in most cases, a failing government is one of the leading causes of hyperinflation, which would render the struggling country useless to help itself out of such a severe recession.  This example should be taken very seriously, and should be a model for future struggles which can hopefully be avoided.

First Signs of Hyperinflation Have Arrived: US National Debt Can Travel From the Earth to the Sun and Back a Stunning 83 Times!: Goldseek.com

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It is a frightening idea to grasp that the United States could be closer to an epidemic of hyperinflation than most people would like to think.  As the article title described it, the amount of debt that the country has accumulated could travel to the sun and back 83 times.  That is what trillions upon trillions of dollars would look like, and it's the reality of a very real potential crisis that the nation may face in just a few years.  In the past, when other countries have faced economic situations, hyperinflation was many times a direct result from massive debts and severely depleted economies.  The United States however, is in a bit of a different situation than most.  When countries in the past faced hyperinflation, they were fighting through decimated economies.  The United States still remains one of the world's leading powers in most fields, including economics.  For this world superpower to fall to hyperinflation, the international implications could be extreme.

One of the biggest results of hyperinflation to the US Dollar, would include its decline in international markets.  It would no longer remain as the standard in many foreign markets, and would rock trade and dozens of international markets that use the US Dollar besides the United States.  Additionally, the stock market would likely face a potential crash that could make the Great Depression of the 1930's look like practically nothing.  The United States would inevitably fall as the world's dominant superpower, and would have to start fresh.  Hyperinflation is a very important issue, especially when it is dealing with one of the world's most powerful countries.  For a country as strong as the United States to potentially face this crisis, it should be a wake up call for the rest of the world to make sure that hyperinflation does not slowly creep into their nations as well.

Zimbabwe after hyperinflation: In dollars they trust- Economist.com

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Upon reading the article and learning about the effects that hyperinflation has taken on Zimbabwe, it is clear as to why this issue is so very relevant and significant.  Having inflation rise an alarming 231 million percent is absolutely astonishing, and a feat that would have been perceived as impossible until its actual occurrence.  The fact that the depleted economy of the country allowed t\he inflation rate to rise to such astronomical proportions is shocking, and the thought of the effects this had on the nation's citizens also raises concern.   To put just how little the money was worth during this hyperinflation epidemic, it is safe to say that if a person went to go buy some groceries at a local market, they would need millions, perhaps billions of their dollars just to buy some food to get buy for their family to meet ends meet.

Although Zimbabwe is a developing country, and is not by any means towards the top of the world in terms of events having international implications, this story still remains relevant within the economic standards of the world.  It shows another example of how a country that "just prints more money" will not raise its nation's monetary values, and will in fact, set the country on a path towards inevitable inflation and potential economic collapse.  Now, the country will need to completely rebuild its monetary system, its banking processes, and construct guidelines that will prevent hyperinflation from infiltrating into the country any more.