"Liberation" Zimbabwe fed sub-Saharan Africa. White commercial farmers ran some of the continent's most productive land, exporting maize, tobacco, and beef across the region. Then Robert Mugabe decided the land belonged to the people, and the people he had in mind were his cronies. Beginning in 2000, Mugabe's government seized +-4,000 white-owned farms under the Fast Track Land Reform Programme, handing them to veterans and political allies who knew nothing about commercial agriculture. Output collapsed immediately. Maize production fell from 1.5 million tonnes in 2000 to under 500,000 tonnes by 2008. The government's response was to print money. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe printed money to cover fiscal deficits it refused to close through spending cuts, issuing progressively larger denominations until the $100 trillion note arrived in January 2009, barely enough to buy a loaf of bread. Destroy property rights, and farmers stop farming. Print currency to patch the wound, and you destroy the price signals that tell producers what to grow, buy, or sell. Mugabe's government chose hyperinflation through deliberate policy steps, no accident. Inflation robs you silently. Starvation is less subtle. From the breadbasket of Africa to the poorest shithole in the world within 10 years. Venezuela's socialist government looked at this disaster and said, "Hold my beer."