Money Value Collapses

Things aren't going well in Belarus...and we wonder if this is additional foreshadowing of what may be coming to a neighborhood near you and me.

MINSK — A sharp devaluation of the Belarussian ruble has spread panic across the country, with people rushing on Wednesday to buy dollars, euros, toasters and canned goods — anything that will not lose its value as quickly as the national currency.


Belarussians swept store shelves and lined up for entire days at currency exchange offices in a desperate attempt to protect their savings from the country's sinking fortunes.


Confidence in the ruble, whose value is fixed by Belarus, has dropped for weeks amid fears over the country's finances and the country's lack of support from its neighbors, both the EU and Russia.


To make matters worse, there is a physical shortage in the country of dollars and euros, which companies and households desperately want to own to protect themselves from a worse devaluation in the future.


Andrei Krylevich, 42, has spent a week in lines outside an exchange booth in downtown Minsk without a chance to buy a single dollar. The computer company he works at has sent its employees on an unpaid leave, and he urgently needs to pay back a $9,000 loan to a bank.


"In just one month, I have virtually turned bankrupt, the entire country has gone bankrupt," Krylevich said. "Even during the Soviet collapse we didn't go through such nightmare."


See it here; http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/belarus-devaluation-spreads-panic/437548.html

Wow!  Running for canned goods in a panic...trying to buy ANYTHING that will not lose its value as quickly as their paper money.  Also did you catch the word CONFIDENCE?  Did you see how the confidence is evaporating over fears about their balance sheets?  Did you notice poor Andrei?  He got sent on unpaid leave from his computer company and can't get any money out of the bank to pay a loan...and now he is facing total bankruptcy.

Could this happen in America?  Now only could it....but it will.  We just don't know when.  But we do know the triggers that will cause have been set up.

So let's all just keep watching American Idol...let's fall back to sleep and dream of the good old days when we could buy anything we wanted....using borrowed money with tiny monthly payments.  Everything is going to be OK.....

Hat tip to Julie E.