Last week, we  went to São Paulo, Brazil. There, too, we found taxi drivers who knew a lot  more about monetary crises than the typical US economist. Said one: I remember. I was just a kid.  But my father would call and tell us to run to the grocery store. He had just  been paid. We'd dash for the grocery story, meet him there and buy everything  we could. We spent every cent in just a few minutes. Our friend  was recalling what it was like in the late 1980s in Brazil. The government had  caused inflation... then hyperinflation. Prices rose so fast that as soon as  people got some cash they ran to the grocery store to spend it. Later, there  was no point. In 1990, hyperinflation in … [Read more...]