Thank you! Isn't it weird when we stop and really think about money? I don't even know how to start. Humans figured out a way around the problems surrounding the barter economy, and look how it evolved. Every-single-civilization collapsed by the same errors: trying to get too big while dissolving their money supply into worthless coins. In a unique way, money almost works as a limiting factor for any expansionist civilization. Well, Brazil has never been expansionist in any way, but our Government has always loved to spend more than the revenue; plus the lack of any solid peg, like the Dollar had until 1971. Recipe for disaster.

Btw, I spent quite a while researching what the Réis (our pre-1942 currency) peg was. It's so confusing that I gave up, but it looks like it was pegged to gold. It was not as clear as $20.67 = 1 Oz of gold though. For that reason and many others I don't believe Brazil will ever leave the *under development" status. Never ever.