The buying power of the most important currencies has been decreasing for many years. The US Dollar, for example, has lost approximately 96 per cent of its buying power over the course of 100 years. Converted into today’s money, the cost of petrol in Europe at the beginning of the 1950s was approximately 0.25 Euros. Today, a litre costs approximately 1.60 Euros. Confidence in currencies is continually decreasing.
The “Inflation Art” project by artist Hans Weishäupl depicts the likenesses of supposedly the world’s most powerful men and women made up of bank notes in the respective currency. The cash value of the picture of Barack Obama (President of the United States) amounts to 46,000 Dollars (456 100-Dollar banknotes), that of the picture of Angela Merkel (German Chancellor) is 192,000 Euros (384 500-Euro banknotes) and the value of the picture of Vladimir Putin (President of the Russian Federation) comes to 2,175,000 Russian Rubles (526 5000-Ruble banknotes).
What will these images be still worth in 100 years’ time?
