The one where TJ strikes it rich

The currency in Mozambique is the meticais, commonly called mets. What does 1000 mets look like?

I know. Pretty amazing, huh.

There’s a little bit of a catch to this. A while back the economy of Mozambique was in such a tailspin from just plain old printing money that inflation was out of control. After some strategic debt restructuring (Mozambique saying we’re not going to pay it) the country knocked 3 zeroes off the end of its money and fixed it to the U.S. Dollar. I still don’t know how you can just fix currencies like that, but I’m sure that’s better left to the experts that are currently flushing the world economy down the proverbial toilet.

All this happened in 2004, which is about 2 years after Zimbabwe (a neighbor) should have done the same thing and about 4 years before they actually did. You probably heard a lot more about Zimbabwe because the people there were paying like 16 trillion for a carrot. For once, I’m not exaggerating. It also helps that Zimbabwe has a slightly crazy and outspoken leader in Mugabe. And goodness knows that the news loves it crazy and outspoken leaders, no matter what country they're from.

[Insert picture of Vladimir Putin doing just about anything]

As a result, everybody traded in their old currency for the new ones, with the exception of the coin in my picture. They just kept using that and its now equivalent to 1 new met, even though they say 1000 mets on them. They are the second smallest denomination of coin here next to the old 500 met coins still floating around, even though they are not really used.

So, what can you get with that little coin? Not a lot. With 2 of them you can get a roll. With 10 of them you can loaf of bread. With 12 you can get a coke. It’s a good thing that Dr. Evil didn’t hold the world ransom for one million of these, otherwise he would have gotten about enough money to get half a tank of gas.

Should’ve asked for one billion. That would have paid for a new car.