The most dramatic inflation in human history occurred in Germany 100 years ago. In 1921, a single loaf of bread cost 163 marks. By November 1923, just two years later, the same loaf cost 200 billion marks. That’s an increase of 1.25 billion times. The price of newspapers was even worse: In 1922, one cost 0.3 marks; by the end of 1923, it cost 1 million marks. In less than a year, it rose 3 million times. At the time, Germans rushed to the store immediately after receiving their paychecks— because if they left their money in the bank for just one day, by the next morning it could buy nothing at all. Banknotes were worth less than firewood. So people literally burned money to keep warm. This was the most extreme example ever of how paper bearing numbers holds no intrinsic value.