“All currencies eventually go to zero”

“All (fiat/paper) currencies eventually go to zero” means that all paper money—not backed up by anything—will eventually be worthless. It’s not clear who first said this economic truth, but the saying has been very popular since at least 2007.
 
A popular gold advertisement from 2008 declared “It’s never been worth zero!”
   
       
Google Groups: soc.culture.thai
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
From: “Khun Stan”

Date: 1998/01/15
Subject: Re: Buy GOLD!!! 
 
It’s impossible to know how this situation will turn out, but I can tell you that 2,000 years of history suggests currencies always go to zero. So in the long term, we will always, always, always move toward inflation. But we are all dead in the long-run, anyway, so that doesn’t really matter for those worried how an investment will do in the next two years. However, it is important to know what the long term forces are.
 
Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis
Sunday, October 28, 2007 11:48 AM
Basket of Insanity at OPEC
(...)
Eventually, all currencies (except gold) go to zero. The only difference is the speed at which they get there. Warranted or not on relative merits, the U.S. dollar is winning the race among major currency pairs.
     
Google Books
Rich Dad’s Increase Your Financial IQ:
Get Smarter with Your Money
By Robert T. Kiyosaki
New York, NY: Business Plus
2008
Pg. ?:
If people stop accepting it, the value of the currency plummets to zero. After 1971, the US dollar began moving to zero.
 
Historically, all currencies eventually go to zero. Throughout history, governments have printed currencies. During the Revolutionary War, the U.S. government printed a currency known as the Continental. It was not long before this currency went to zero.
   
Wyatt Investment Research
The Best, Worst and Likely Scenarios for Silver
Kevin McElroy
November 17, 2010
(...)
Paper currency around the world all suffers from the same chronic, debilitating disease: it has no intrinsic value. Eventually, all currencies will go to zero. In such an event, it won’t matter how many dollars it will cost to buy an ounce of silver. You’ll simply want to hold silver.
 
Of Two Minds by Charles Hughes Smith
Could the U.S. Dollar Rise 50%?  (January 12, 2011)
Conventional wisdom is that the Fed wants the U.S. dollar lower, so it must drop. But the dollar seems to be lacking proper obedience to the Fed’s grand commands.
Before you shout that all fiat currencies go to zero, let’s stipulate that the U.S. dollar has already proceeded 95% of the way to zero. According to the handy BLS inflation calculator, the 2010 dollar is roughly worth 4.5 cents of the 1913 dollar. Put another way, it now takes $22.10 to buy what $1 purchased in 1913.
 
The Daily Herald (Dutch Caribbean)
Think about dollarisation carefully
Sunday, 03 July 2011 20:28
(...)
“Why would anyone bank on the dollar when the US government is running up record debts today, even though they have no way to pay for the coming crisis of Social Security and Medicare when the Baby Boomers retire? The only answer I can think of is financial ignorance. As the old saying goes, all currencies eventually go to zero. There is no currency in the history of the world that hasn’t eventually crashed under the burdens of debt that its government heaped upon it. The dollar will be no exception. It’s just a matter of time – and I believe that time will be sooner rather than later. Those who are betting on the dollar are living on borrowed time.” – Robert Kiyosaki.
 
Agora Financial’s Daily Resource Hunter
All Paper Currencies Eventually Go To Zero — Invest in Gold…
Nov 21st, 2011 | Chris Mayer
Baht, dong, riels and dollars… As I traveled through Southeast Asia, I had to juggle a motley assortment of colorful printed “money.” The best currency was the one no one was carrying, but everyone seemed to be buying and holding: gold.
 
MaxKeiser.com
Ron Paul on Jay Leno
Posted on December 17, 2011 by stacyherbert
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COMMENTS
Casey | December 19, 2011 at 6:17 pm
F Beard you should read a little history before you stick up for fiat currencies. All fiat currencies go to zero. Period. And the US dollar is no exception.
 
JD Underground
All Fiat Currency Always Goes To Zero….always.
findcjthehumble1 (Dec 29 - 7:01 pm) (2011—ed.)
ALWAYS.