economic collapse

I wrote the following in June 2007:

Societal collapse is not a pretty site. It usually involves many deaths and occasionally even some pretty horrific images...

We've seen societal collapse. Biafra...Rwanda...Cambodia...the Balkans...

Zimbabwe is predicted to be within 6 months of collapse according to a secretive and leaked report commissioned for aid workers. Alarmist? Unlikely?

Consider this. The current inflation rate in Zimbabwe is 3,714%. Yeah...you read that correctly. Quadruple digit inflation. Add to that 80% unemployment. One third of the population depends on food aid from the international community, which of course requires sufficient infrastructure and stability for food to get through.

I think you already have what amounts to economic collapse. No work and no one can buy anything.

Got a message from my brother. He saw the run on the IndyMac Bank in Duarte, California.

Let me introduce this with dueling headlines. From the Pasadena Star-News:

IndyMac appears close to collapse: US regulators may not be ready to protect bank

And from the LA Times:

IndyMac denies that it's close to collapse: "Depositors have been pulling money from the Pasadena-based thrift, whose share price is down 90% this year."

Today, my brother saw a crowd at the Duarte IndyMac Bank desperately trying to get their savings out. Many elderly people were claiming that they are being offered dollar for dollar on the first $100,000...after that only fifty cents on the dollar.

Societal collapse is not a pretty site. It usually involves many deaths and occasionally even some pretty horrific images creeping in between reports of Paris Hilton's latest prison experience.

We've seen societal collapse. Biafra...Rwanda...Cambodia...the Balkans...

Zimbabwe is predicted to be within 6 months of collapse according to a secretive and leaked report commissioned for aid workers. Alarmist? Unlikely?

Consider this. The current inflation rate in Zimbabwe is 3,714%. Yeah...you read that correctly. Quadruple digit inflation. Add to that 80% unemployment. One third of the population depends on food aid from the international community, which of course requires sufficient infrastructure and stability for food to get through.

I think you already have what amounts to economic collapse. No work and no one can buy anything.

Zimbabwe's dictator of course blames "the West" for sabatoging his nation. Ignore the fact that his regime is among the most repressive and corrupt on earth. It is also one of those nations where nearly a quarter of the population is HIV infected. Combining that with the economic situation, it is not surprising that average life expectancy is in the mid to late thirties.

The international community let genocide occur in the Balkans, in Rwanda, in Darfur. We can make a reasonable guess that Zimbabwe may be next for full scale societal collapse by the end of this year. Will anyone do anything about it?