Weird and Amazing Currencies Of The World

The common impression is that currencies come only in the form of the paper money in your wallet or coins in your pocket. Or that gold, copper or silver once functioned as primitive form of currencies.

From today's modern society, that's true.

But from history's perspective, we realize currencies took in many forms...including the most bizarre ones.

This from CNBC's The Weirdest Currencies of the World

Just a few examples...

Edible Money!

``Salt is one of the world's oldest forms of payment. In fact, the word salary derives from the Latin "salarium," which was the money paid to Roman soldiers to buy salt. It was the main form of currency in the Sahara Desert during the Middle Ages, and was used extensively throughout East Africa. Typically, one would lick a salt block to make sure it was real and break off pieces to make change. Doty's block, seen here, is 1,500 years old.

``Other incredible, edible currencies include "reng," a yarn-ball of tumeric spice wrapped in coconut fibers that is used for trade in the Solomon Islands; cacao (or chocolate beans), widely used throughout Mexico and Central America; and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, so highly regarded that it was used both as currency and bank collateral in Italy.

``One particularly inedible currency: the poisonous money seeds of Burma. Which if nothing else proves that money does indeed grow on trees — or at least bushes."

Deposed president for a currency's design!

``The African nation of Zaire, known today as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, doesn't have money to burn. So when the totalitarian regime of Joseph Mobutu was overthrown in 1997, the new government found itself in a cash crunch until it could design and print new currency. It's thrifty solution? It took large stacks of 20,000-zaire notes and simply punched out Mobutu's image."

Read more of the amazing but weird currencies and their stories here.

Video:Breaking Down Buffett's Letter

courtesy of CNBC

Note: Despite the "Sage of Omaha"'s controversial "Buy American, I am" encouraging Americans to support equity markets, the fact is that he hasn't been buying much equities since (only $1.3 billion according to Mario Gabelli), and even sold some positions recently. 

I don't share the views that most of the recent liquidations from Berkshire's Portfolio were meant to be rotated into "banks", simply because Berkshire balance sheet remains substantially cash rich. In short, you don't need to rotate when you have so much available or spare cash. Liquidity isn't the issue. Mr. Buffett sold parts of his flagship's holdings period. Yet, most of the recent positions have been into banks' "preferred stock" which is a fixed income investment derived from recent "special" deals during the meltdown last September. 

As an Obama supporter, the folksy Mr. Buffett appears to have been transformed into a sweet talking politico or had been used as a political instrument. 

Nonetheless, on the positive side, there are many amusing but worthwhile investing lessons from his annual shareholder's letter. Although as usual, you'd be disarmed by his candor to his shareholders. 

The US Mortgage Crisis Taxpayer Tab: $4.28 TRILLION and counting…

In the face of this crisis, how much money has the US government thrown to “save the system” so far?

CNBC has this tabulation…

``Try $4.28 trillion dollars. That's $4,284,500,000,000 and more than what was spent on WW II, if adjusted for inflation, based on our computations from a variety of estimates and sources.”

Incredible. $4.28 trillion +++ as the days go by! And that's about 30% of the US GDP.

Makes you wonder who's gonna pay for all these and how one can be bullish on the US dollar, except when considering the recent spate of the deleveraging process-which is a short term dynamic.

Table below as of November 18, are CNBC’s estimates (see article)…

Great stuff from CNBC

Also, CNBC made a nifty comparison of how this bill has dwarfed the other major taxpayer programs in the past as shown through this slideshow.

Here are 3 of the ten, courtesy of CNBC.

World War II

Original Cost: $288 billion

Inflation Adjusted Cost: $3.6 trillion

NASA (Cumulative)

Original Cost: $416.7 billion

Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

Vietnam War

Original Cost: $111 billion

Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion

(Pictured: Pres. Lyndon Johnson and Sen. Richard Russell)

Check CNBC slideshow for the write up and the rest of the other largest taxpayer bill

(Hat Tip: Mr. C. McCarty)