The Japanese Yen

There was an article on CNN this morning about Japan, and their one quadrillion yen government debt. One quadrillion is 1,000 trillion, which is 1,000 billion, which is 1,000 million.    (note that this is only $10 trillion US)

Japan is one a billion-million yen in debt.

How in the world did it get this way?  Inflation of course.   In 1870 in yen was officially adopted as .78 ounces of silver,

Wikipedia doesn't say why, but at one point the yen was taken off the gold/silver standard so it could be debased around 1900.  I would venture to guess the government had to much debt

I will also note that Japan was leveled during WWII, and i'm sure had an effect on their fiat currency.   If their currency had still been backed by gold/silver it probably wouldn't have changed much.  If their currency had been backed by gold, i'm sure WWII would have never happened.

Anyways, Japan has the largest debt/GDP ratio in the world, approximately 215% of their annual economic output.  Japan is also borrowing money like there is no tomorrow, which no intention of ever paying it back.

I also found this cool phrase on a wikipedia article

"By the end of 1913, the classical gold standard was at its peak but with the advent of World War I in August 1914, many countries suspended or abandoned the gold standard"

I get it.  Because governments needed war, they abandoned the gold standard (so they could print money to pay for war)

Bitcoin user - unaffected.