History Main / RidiculousFutureInflation

*** This is also a reason why 1 yen coin is minted in aluminum since 1955: during WorldWarTwo the Japanese economy suffered huge inflation, and in 1946 the yen was pegged to the US dollar at the rate of ¥360 per $1. At first the yen coins were minted in brass, similar to the modern 5 yen coin, but the rise in copper prices meant that the coin was worth more than its face value as a bullion, resulting in significant losses for the Bank of Japan. This led to the change of its material to the much cheaper aluminum, and it remains the same ever since, even if it appreciated more than 4 times, so now the rate is ~¥120 per $1 as of 17.5.2015 according to google.

** To elaborate, the problems with inflation began when the government established a currency exchange control system in 2003 to contain the outward flow of foreign currency (particularly American dollars), and to mask the steady increase in prices, they tried applying the "drop three zeros" strategy to the Venezuelan Bolivar with the creation of the Bolivar Fuerte (Strong Bolivar) in 2007. However, they didn't take any measures to solve the underlying problems with the economy, so the currency exchange control is still there, the government continues acquiring debt after debt with China, with no visible intention of paying them off, and they continue forcing the central bank to print inorganic money. All in all, this resulted in the American Dollar now having a value of over 100 [=BsF=] (100.000 of the old Bolivares) in the black market, with the official exchange rate of an America dollar to 6,30 Bolivars being severely limited and hard to acquire for anyone, and an excessive amount of Bolivars in circulation that have next to no value. And that's without mentioning the current annual inflation rate of 63,4% or the fact that due to the government's treaties with other countries and bad handling of the economy, there's a widespread scarcity of food, medicine, personal care products, industrial raw materials and even toilet paper.

* Based on RealLife, Literature/JamesBond, when in France at the beginning of ''Literature/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' (which was written shortly after the franc underwent a 1000:1 devaluation) likes to think of the money in his pocket in old francs because that makes him feel richer, while counting his expenses in new francs to make them seem smaller.

* ''''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

In real life, it is a possible but not very likely scenario, especially in a fiat currency system.[[note]]As opposed to an commodity exchange currency system, in which the currency is assigned a fixed value in tangible assets. The best-known and formerly most common example of this was the gold standard, in which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin currency could be traded for a fixed amount of gold]]. Fiat currency on the other hand simply has value because the government issuing it says so. Therefore a fiat currency's value is dependent on the how credible the issuing government is perceived as being, while a commodity currency is dependent on the commodity it can be exchanged for actually being valued by the public.[[/note]] First, in modern economic science, inflation isn't even seen as something inherently bad. As long as the average income also multiplies, the inflation would do little harm. Deflationary periods are usually tied with ''recessions'' rather than booms. Deflations were only beneficial in commodity currency systems free of debt, such as the gold standard or Lincoln greenbacks. However, if the creation of money is based on loans, such as the fractional reserve system that the Federal Reserve operates under and bank credits that we have now, then this is very likely. Printing money en masse as credits and bailouts with interest can create rapid inflation, and rapid deflation can cause a sharp decrease in the money supply to pay back that debt with interest, causing defaults, unemployment, and stockholders selling off worthless investments. This was theorized to be one of the causes of TheGreatDepression.

* In ''Film/IRobot'' this is averted. [[ProductPlacement Beers]] are shown to cost US$48 for ''three'' bottles of beer [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in 2035]] -- considering that the cheapest you'd find a bottle of beer in a bar in a major US city in 2012 is $5 and $7-$8 is perfectly reasonable, $16 23 years later sounds very reasonable.

* 2007's ''Film/IAmLegend'' shows the price of gas (at the time New York was evacuated) as well over 5 dollars a gallon. This is likely less a result of inflation so much as how hard it would be to move fuel around, what with the disease and all going around.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' averts this -- with Fry's $4 billion in his account (saved over 1000 years, of course) is enough to make him independently wealthy, and getting a $300 tax rebate is a big deal. Of course, it's shown in the first episode that society has collapsed and been rebuilt several times since Fry put that money into his account, so it is possible that somewhere along the way, the government corrected for any inflation. In fact, considering the sheer amount of bizarre history that's occurred over 1000 years, including [[AmericaTakesOverTheWorld America taking over the world]], it's amazing Fry's money is any good at all.

* An old joke tells of a man who suffers a coma and wakes up 50 years later. He calls his stockbroker firm, which tells him that due to a split he now has a billion dollars. Before he can celebrate, the payphone asks him to insert $1 million...with the popularity of cellphones since then, however, [[TechnologyMarchesOn this joke doesn't really work anymore]].

** Bottle caps, the standard currency of the Wasteland in most of the games, excepting ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' where they've been temporarily displaced by NCR gold dollars, are backed by the cost of water, in a radioactive desert, by most merchants. So needless to say they're worth quite a bit more than modern dollars. Though a stack of pre-war currency (presumably $100) usually goes for about 10 caps, as a collectible.
** In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', as evidenced by a terminal in Gwinnett Brewery, a pint of beer cost ''$39'' in 2077, the year the [[WorldWarIII Great War]] started. A six-pack cost $200, and a donut is proudly advertised for [[SarcasmMode the low low price]] of $30.

* Make your own with ''[[http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ The Inflation Calculator]].'' Simple experiment: what was a thousand dollars worth in 1800? What cost $1000 in 1800 would cost '''$14,312 in 2016.''' Put more simply, a thousand 2015 dollars is equivalent to '''''seventy-one 1800 dollars.'''''

* Make your own with ''[[http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ The Inflation Calculator]].'' Simple experiment: what was a thousand dollars worth in 1800? What cost $1,000 in 1800 costs '''$14,055 in 2015.''' Put more simply, a thousand 2015 dollars is equivalent to '''''seventy-two 1800 dollars.'''''

* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' episode "Duck to the Future" had Scrooge get teleported to a [[BadFuture bad, but shiny-looking future]] where Magica got filthy rich after stealing his Number One Dime, and his nephews grew up to be super-rich {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s after going into business with her. In this world, things costs about 100 times what they do in Scrooge's time, though some of it can be attributed to Magica and the [=McDuck=] triplets' price gouging.

* An old joke tells of a man who suffers a coma and wakes up 50 years later. He calls his stockbroker firm, which tells him that due to a split he now has a billion dollars. Before he can celebrate, the payphone asks him to insert $1 million dollars...with the popularity of cellphones since then, however, [[TechnologyMarchesOn this joke doesn't really work anymore]].

See also NoPaperFuture. Compare RidiculousExchangeRates and CompoundInterestTimeTravelGambit. May be the result of YouFailEconomicsForever.

** Also an inversion: in an episode set in the ''Literature/HuckleberryFinn'' era, Tom and Huck are shocked that a couple days worth of supplies cost 2 cents and there was a 99-cent store which sold such items as grand pianos.

* An in-universe example happens in ''VideoGame/GalaxyOnFire2''. At the start of the game PlayerCharacter Keith T. Maxwell [[FishOutOfTemporalWater got kicked about thirty years into the future]] due to a hyperdrive malfunction. At one point an NPC gives him 20,000 credits to outfit his ship with a tractor beam and scanner.

** To elaborate, the problems with inflation began when the government established a currency exchange control system in 2003 to contain the outward flow of foreign currency (particularly American dollars), and to mask the steady increase in prices, they tried applying the "drop three zeros" strategy to the Venezuelan Bolivar with the creation of the Bolivar Fuerte (Strong Bolivar) in 2007. However, they didn't take any measures to solve the underlying problems with the economy, so the currency exchange control is still there, the government continues acquiring debt after debt with China, with no visible intention of paying them off, and they continue forcing the central bank to print inorganic money. All in all, this resulted in the American Dollar now having a value of over 100 BsF (100.000 of the old Bolivares) in the black market, with the official exchange rate of an America dollar to 6,30 Bolivars being severely limited and hard to acquire for anyone, and an excessive amount of Bolivars in circulation that have next to no value. And that's without mentioning the current annual inflation rate of 63,4% or the fact that due to the government's treaties with other countries and bad handling of the economy, there's a widespread scarcity of food, medicine, personal care products, industrial raw materials and even toilet paper.

* Oh, ''Franchise/{{Neopets}}''. Their inflation has been compared to Germany's after WWI.

* And ''Website/GaiaOnline'' has passed postwar Germany's inflation to be comparable to Zimbabwe's.

* Happened in the modern times in Zimbabwe where the exchange rate at late June, 2008 was 20 billion $Z to 1 $US. In 2007 the inflation rate was going up so fast that golfers would prepay for their drinks before starting their round because the price would have gone up significantly by the time they finished the 18th hole, and that waiting a day to buy bread meant you could no longer afford to do so. The economy is right now pretty much running on foreign currency: the Zimbabwean dollar is so worthless that it's actually more cost effective to sell the currency for use as recycled paper (and get paid in real money) than it is to use it for its face value. Or to sell it as a novelty to currency collectors, and again get paid in real money. A Zimbabwean newspaper printed its ads on Zimbabwean money... [[HumiliationConga Zimbabwean government banned]] ''its own'' currency in April 2009. In June 2015, Zimbabwe officially abandoned its currency, choosing instead to use the US Dollar. Before then the inflation was exponential... on a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ZWDvUSDchart.png logarithmic graph]]

* An old joke tells of a man who suffers a coma and wakes up 50 years later. He calls his stockbroker firm, which tells him that due to a split he now has a billion dollars. Before he can celebrate, the payphone asks him to insert $1 million dollars...

*** One of the interesting aspects of the yen is that you won't find it among [[http://www.profitconfidential.com/u-s-dollar/the-10-most-expensive-currency/ the top ten valued currencies]]. However, if you treat the yen like any other subdivision (say, the US cent), it's equal to the ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}} Swiss franc]].'' It's sort of mindscrew to think about buying a can of soda in "100 cents".

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', a bounty hunter says that Aku has a bounty on Jack's head worth two googolplex. Yes, the hunter is convinced that this is "a ''looooot'' of money" and the person offering the bounty controls the entire world, but [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googolplex that's]] just ''ridiculous''.[[note]]One Googol has a hundred zeroes, One Googolplex has a Googol zeroes[[/note]].

*** Though since the dollar was, even then, a fiat currency, $20 in 1920 is estimated as being the equivalent of anywhere from [[http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/result.php?year_source=1920&amount=20&year_result=2014 $180-3,890 modern currency]].