FUNNY MONEY: ANCIENT CHINESE SPADE AND KNIFE MONEY. ZIMBABWE 100 TRILLION DOLLAR NOTE.
A LESSON FOR THE USD. My Spade and Knife money and Zimbabwe 100 trillion-dollar note are examples of what happens to money when it is not based on a physical asset with inherent value and no counter-party risk such as gold and silver (or bronze in the case of the spade and knife money). When in 221 BC the Qin Emperor Shih Huang Ti united all of China, he decreed that all the seven States (Qin, Qi, Zhao, Chu, Wei, Han, Yan) shall use a new standardized bronze coin (see image below: the round coins with sqaure holes in the middle) The old knife and spade money in its various forms could be exchanged for it based on the weight of their metal content. On the other hand, the Zimbabwe 100 trillion-dollar note was printed into existence (just as the Fed prints into existence new USD) with no physical backing whatsoever in January 2009 but was abandoned just three months later because people did not trust it and refused to accept it for trade and daily use. Under the 19...